The Artist's Inspiration
by SilvorMoon
Summary: When Misawa offers Pegasus a chance to visit the Duel Monsters world, he jumps at the chance, but something is waiting for him that is hauntingly familiar. Can Juudai and the others protect him in a world where the figments of his imagination are real?
1. Inspiration

**Inspiration** **By: SilvorMoon**

Pegasus had awakened that morning from a dream. He lay very still in his bed, keeping his good eye closed as he carefully tried to sort out his fantasies from reality. Such a thing was becoming more difficult by the day.

_There is something to this. I just don't know what._

He dreamed, as he often had, of Cyndia. When they had been younger, he'd dreamed of their future together, and when she had passed away, he dreamed that she was still with him, and had awakened with the belief that he would still find her. After time, the frequency of these dreams had faded, and he had learned to recognize them as dreams even as he was having them. After he had lost the Millennium Eye and his last hope of seeing her again in this lifetime, their frequency had dropped considerably. He'd moved on with his life, as much as he could, and the dreams had moved on with him. These days, they were only warm, hazy memories of a time when he had been perfectly happy, but which was now over.

None of that explained why he was having these dreams now. Every night, for several days running, he'd been having the same dream, so sharp and vivid that for the first time in years, he had awakened thinking it was all real. In his dream, he standing in an outdoor arena, dueling some shadowy opponent. He was winning, and was pleased by his victory. Then he was distracted by a scent of roses, and looked around to realize that the stadium was actually a garden, its walls made of rose hedges. And there was Cyndia, standing a little away from him, watching him wistfully.

"I want to play, too," she told him.

"You can't," he told her. "You're not alive anymore."

"Then you must let me join you some other way," she replied.

"I would if I could," he said, "but I don't know how."

"Paint me," she said. "Make me part of the game, so I can always play along with you."

And then she suddenly spread a pair of wings, their feathers made of pure sunset-colored light, and the whole world was suffused by their glow, and it became so bright that Pegasus had to shield himself from it...

...and then he would awaken with the light of morning slanting across his pillow. The first morning, he had chalked it all up to his overactive imagination plus a bit of lingering guilt and a fair bit more lingering loneliness. He missed Cyndia. He couldn't help that. Having a successful career and lots of friends and admirers was no substitute for the feeling of being in love and loved in return. It would have been surprising if he didn't dream of her once in a while. But it had been the same dream every night for nearly two weeks, without variations.

_It doesn't seem natural,_ he mused, as he stared up at the ceiling. _My brain is not that consistent._

Of course, what it actually _meant_, he had no idea. After a while, he decided he wasn't going to figure it out by lying in bed all day, so he got up and prepared himself to face another day. He dressed and groomed himself thoughtfully, his mind wandering even more far afield than it usually did. By the time he reached the breakfast room, his servants had already realized that he was up and about, and everything was already in place for him. That was one of the nicest things about living the way he did: that he had other people to think about mundane things for him so he could chase after more lofty notions in peace.

"Do you have plans for today, sir?" asked Crocketts. Pegasus's trusted advisor and bodyguard had been asking that same question with reassuring regularity for longer than Pegasus could remember, and would take an answer regarding a trip to the office or a trip to Brazil with equal aplomb.

"Oh, just wandering about," said Pegasus. "I won't be requiring an escort. I have a problem on my mind, and I want some time alone to think about it."

"Sir, for your personal safety..." Crocketts began, but Pegasus waved him off.

"I don't want a lecture," said Pegasus. "I assure you I am fully capable of taking a walk in the park without falling victim to a dastardly plot. I might enjoy a dastardly plot. It would take my mind off my more mundane concerns."

"If you're quite certain..."

"I am."

"But be sure to take your cell phone with you. The last time you went out unsupervised, I tried to call you, and your phone was sitting on your desk the whole time. And you _know_ what happened that time."

Pegasus scowled. "I'll have you know that was not entirely my fault. At least half the blame was the cab driver's."

Crocketts scowled back at him. He was much better at it than Pegasus was; Pegasus had never really gotten the scowling thing down properly, and usually had to settle for pretending that he had no idea what people were talking about until they shut up and went away. That didn't work on Crocketts, but then, nothing did.

"I'll be good," said Pegasus meekly.

True to his word, when he went out, he took his cell phone with him. It was the latest model (he insisted on having the latest model, which required changing phones about once every two weeks, but he enjoyed the variety). It had a number of pointless features, most of which he still didn't know how to use. It played MP3s and connected to the internet and had more ringtones than he knew what to do with, other than annoy people with as he tested them all during dull meetings. There were a number of video games on it, which he ignored, since they weren't nearly as interesting as the ones he tested at his job on a daily basis. It also came equipped with a miniature video camera, which he did use. As much as he liked traveling and getting into obscure things, having a photographic record of it all was occasionally useful.

For a while, he forced himself to keep his thoughts away from serious things as he wandered. He had taken himself to a local park, feeling that the company of other human beings would help stimulate his thought processes. It was a Saturday, and warm, so there was plenty of company there if he wanted it. A few people recognized him, and some of the braver children approached for his autograph, which he was happy to provide, but he really didn't turn too many heads around here these days. Everyone living in this city knew he was there and treated him like a local landmark - something they were proud of and happy to show off to outsiders, but were too busy to worry about during their day-to-day lives.

_So, what am I to make of these dreams?_

If he had been a rational man, he would have chalked it up to coincidence and an overactive subconscious, and tried to forget about it. He was not, however, particularly rational. He didn't believe in coincidences; he believed in fate, and in things from other levels of reality mucking around in people's lives without their say-so. He believed that there were gods, and that they spent most of their time finding ways to irritate lesser mortals. He was prepared to believe there was a _reason_ for these visions coming to him night after night.

_Dare I believe this is some sort of message?_

He wasn't sure about that. Rather, he wasn't sure he wanted to think like that, because it was a little too close to the line between possibility and wishful thinking, and he already felt the boundaries between fantasy and reality in his world were too thin for comfort. He would have liked very much to believe that Cyndia was trying to send him some sort of message, but why she would choose to do so now after all these years was a mystery. On the other hand, who was he to criticize how communication with the next world was managed? Assuming that was what this was. He shook his head. At this rate, the only thing he was going to manage to do was confuse himself.

As he walked, he passed by two boys who were enjoying a casual duel, while several of their friends cheered them on. He paused to watch them play. It didn't help him generate any further ideas, but he always did find it pleasant to watch people enjoying the fruits of his labor. After a few moments, he took out his cell phone and turned on the video camera. Not only was there a chance it might be useful for a bit of feedback, but it would be proof to Crocketts that he'd been behaving himself, at least for a little while.

"I set a trap card and end my turn," said one boy.

"All right, my turn! I summon my favorite monster, the Jealous Goblin!"

"Ha, that's a stupid monster!" the first boy taunted. "No way it can beat my Sapphire Dragon!"

"It can so! Once per game, I can give her the attack points and effects of any monster on the field, and I choose Sapphire Dragon!"

"Hey, wait, you can't do that!"

"And now I equip Jealous Goblin with the Black Pendant. Now her attack points are higher than your dragon! Jealous Goblin, attack!"

There was a gratifying explosion as the dragon went up in sparks. Pegasus applauded, and the victorious player blushed.

"Well played," said Pegasus approvingly. "I do like to see people making good use of low-level cards."

The boy grinned. "I like her that way. She surprises people."

"Now I want to get one of those," said the other boy.

"That's the spirit!" said Pegasus. He produced a pen and a small notepad from his jacket pocket. "I'll tell you what - write down your mailing address, and I'll be sure to send you a copy."

"All right! Awesome!"

Pegasus walked away from that encounter feeling more cheerful. No matter what else might be going on, a duel was always good fun. Perhaps, he thought, he should take this as a sign of which way he ought to turn. Even if it turned out that his dream was nothing but a dream, what harm was there in creating a card? No one would look askance at him for making a card or two for his own amusement - he had done it more than once, designing things that would never be put into circulation, to be used only in his own deck if they were ever used at all. He would make one of those cards, a single copy to be used by him and him alone. Even if it was only a normal card, it might still be a pleasant thing to have.

With that thought in mind, he returned home. As soon as he'd made it through the front door, he began shedding his jacket as he headed up the stairs to his room.

"You weren't gone long," Crocketts observed. He made it sound like an accusation.

"I was gone long enough to decide what I wanted to do," Pegasus replied. "Tell everyone else not to bother me, would you? I have some work to do."

"Very well, sir," said Crocketts. He sounded a bit relieved, and Pegasus couldn't blame him. Pegasus went through the occasional phase where he locked himself in his rooms, sometimes for days on end, while he worked on some new art project or pursued some esoteric line of research. He was usually at his most manageable during these times; all that was required was for someone to send up food and drink at fairly regular intervals. It was only when he came out of his room again that he started getting into real mischief.

Satisfied that all would be well for as long as it took Pegasus to finish, he retreated to his private quarters, locked the door, and changed into his grubbiest old work clothes. Suitably attired in a threadbare pair of khakis and a liberally paint-spattered old shirt, Pegasus entered his private art studio. Unlike the rest of his lavishly furnished home, the studio was a plain room with bare white walls and a dull wood floor that showed as much paint as wood. Cabinets stood along one wall, stocked with paints, brushes, pencils, and everything else an artist might want. The rest of the room was mostly windows, filling the area with brilliant daylight. Pegasus set up an easel where the light was best, chose a canvas, and began gathering his paints and brushes as well as his thoughts.

_How shall I do this?_

He would have to be very careful. He could not paint Cyndia as she was, nor as he imagined she might be now. He certainly didn't want to try to recreate her in the image of what he thought or hoped she would be. No, if she wanted to be part of his deck, she was going to have to fit in there - he was going to have to decide how she would appear if she were a Duel Monster, and that was going to challenge his creativity.

_An Angel type, I think. Light attribute, obviously. That will work. Nothing too ridiculously powerful - good defense points, no particular special effect. I don't want to turn her into a showpiece. Simple and reliable will do. As for the design..._

Well, there had to be wings. That was important. Maybe the usual elfin ears, though he wasn't so sure about that. He'd have to design her a new wardrobe, naturally...

For a long time, he sat staring at his canvas, constructing and discarding images in his mind. Then, at last, he began to paint.

* * *

"Mr. Pegasus," said the receptionist, "there's someone from the scientific research department here to speak with you. Shall I send him in?"

Pegasus considered the papers in front of him. It had been some days since he had completed his little art project, and he had now returned to more worldly concerns than painting pictures. It was terribly boring, really. He had some contracts he still needed to go over, but none of them were anything that couldn't wait for a little while. Besides, he liked talking to the people in the scientific research department. They always came up with such clever things

"Yes, please," he said.

A moment later, the door opened, and a young man in a white lab coat stepped in. He was unusual from the ranks of scientists in that he was sporting a suntan. He had intelligent dark eyes, and dark hair pulled into a short ponytail in back, and looked familiar. Pegasus tried to remember who he was.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Pegasus," said the scientist with a polite inclination of his head. "I just dropped in to fill you in on the latest developments on the dimensional transportation system."

Pegasus brightened as he remembered who he was talking to: Daichi Misawa, one of the brilliant minds involved in studying the Duel Monster realms. He had disappeared without a trace about a year ago, but his mentor Dr. Zweinstein had refused to give up looking for him. By the time they had found him, he had apparently settled down comfortably in the other world and had not been particularly upset that he hadn't been able to go back. Even now, he only stayed in his home world for one week out of every month, occupying the rest of his time doing field work in the world where he had chosen to make his home.

"Excellent, excellent," said Pegasus. "I always look forward to hearing from you, Mr. Misawa. How are things in the other worlds? How is your wife?"

Misawa smiled. "Taniya was doing quite well, last I saw her. Anxious for me to get home, I'm sure."

"That's as it should be," Pegasus agreed. He had never met Misawa's wife, as she largely preferred her own world and seldom left it, but he knew a bit about her. When he had learned that one of his people had married an inhabitant of the Duel Monsters worlds, Pegasus had pulled a few strings and spread some money around, and gotten some laws passed that would recognize the marriage as legal. Why not? Pegasus was all in favor of anything that improved the relations between humans and Duel Monsters, and Misawa had assured him that in the other worlds such unions between humans and humanoid monsters were both commonplace and fruitful.

"So you will be heading back there soon, I expect?" Pegasus inquired.

"Well, yes and no," said Misawa. "I'll be leaving here soon, but I'm not planning on going straight home. You see, we've finally worked all the glitches out of the transport system. I can now guarantee that it is safe to operate and will send a traveler to the precise destination specified. In other words," he finished, speaking slowly and dramatically, "it is now safe to bring visitors."

"Oh?" said Pegasus, feeling that there was more coming.

"We had thought," said Misawa, "that you would like to be the first official guest. It seems only fair."

Pegasus lit up visibly. He had been longing to visit the other worlds for as long as he'd known they existed. Given his choice, he would have headed out to have a look at them the moment he'd heard they had a way to get there, but he had allowed wiser minds to talk him out of it. It was dangerous, they said - he might land in the middle of the ocean, or in a volcano, or on top of a nest of hungry monsters. He might be trapped there and never find his way back. Pegasus understood that these were not things that would be beneficial to him, so he had allowed himself to be talked into staying where it was safe. All his instincts, though, had been saying that what he really should do was get out there as quickly as he could. It was nice to see someone agreed with them.

"How soon?" he asked.

"Well, ah..." said Misawa, looking somewhat taken aback, "I had thought that it might take a few days to make all the proper arrangements. Assuming, that is, that you planned to spend more than a day there..."

"Yes, of course. I see," said Pegasus. "I suppose you're right..."

"You may wish to bring an entourage," said Misawa. "Naturally we would be taking you to an area that has a low population of aggressive monsters, but there is always the chance that we might stumble onto something dangerous. We definitely can't let anything happen to you."

"I feel precisely the same way," Pegasus agreed. He pondered a moment. "How many people would you suggest I bring?"

"As many as you feel comfortable with," said Misawa. "You shouldn't need _too_ very many. It's only a short trip, and we'll be staying near a civilized area. I wouldn't think more than four or five would be necessary. I, of course, will be accompanying you as a guide."

"Very kind of you, I'm sure," said Pegasus. "Let me see... Austin O'Brien has experience traveling in these worlds, correct?"

"Yes, that's right," said Misawa. "I'd say he'd be an excellent choice as a companion."

"Then I'll drop him an invitation," Pegasus decided. "And maybe someone else... Perhaps Hayato Maeda."

Misawa looked surprised. "Why him?"

"Because," said Pegasus, "as far as I know, neither you nor Mr. O'Brien have duel spirit partners. He does. It occurs to me that such a thing might be useful to have around."

"A fair point, I'll grant you," said Misawa. "All right. Anyone else?"

"Nothing springs to mind," said Pegasus. He smiled wryly. "Unless you know where to get hold of Juudai."

Misawa laughed a little. "I don't think anyone knows that. If you figure it out, let me know."

"Well, then, I suppose I'll make do with only three escorts," Pegasus replied. "Unless a miracle happens and he turns up. Or unless I think of someone else."

"I'll tell the lab to prepare for at least four people," said Misawa. "Just let us know when you'll be ready to leave, at least a day in advance so we have time to power up all the machinery." He started to leave, and then changed his mind and backtracked. "And remember that we're traveling light, so don't pack any more than can be conveniently carried."

That made Pegasus laugh. "Don't worry. Believe it or not, I do know a thing or two about roughing it." Not that he was any sort of experienced hiker, but he had done a lot of exploring in out of the way places while he'd been studying the origins of dueling, so spending the night in a tent wasn't an entirely novel experience. He was assuming that since wherever they were going was supposedly "civilized", he could at least hope to have a roof over his head.

"All right, then," said Misawa, still looking doubtful of Pegasus's abilities to adapt, as only a city boy who has moved to the wilderness could. "We'll be waiting for your call, then."

He bid Pegasus a polite goodbye and made his exit. Pegasus sighed and turned his attention back to his work. He stared at the papers waiting to be read and signed, at the e-mails waiting to be read, at the proposals ready to be considered. Then he put it all aside and reached for his phone instead.

"Yes, there is something you can do for me," he said to the servant who answered him. "I need a few things packed for a trip..."

* * *

In the end, Pegasus did manage to get all his work wrapped up in time to report that he would be ready to depart on Friday afternoon. He was very pleased with himself as he arrived at the laboratory wearing sensible canvas pants and a basic tan shirt, and carrying a single neatly packed canvas bag full of the bare essentials. Of course, someone else had packed it for him, and he had no idea if he'd be able to get it all back into the bag once he'd started taking things out of it, but it was nice to be prepared. He was accompanied by a similarly outfitted Hayato, as well as O'Brien, who was carrying a smaller bag but gave the impression that he had probably made better use of his packing space. Pegasus got the impression that O'Brien could survive very nicely in the wild with nothing more than a knife and a flint. He looked wary, with good reason, considering how his last stay in the other world had gone. He was, in fact, giving Misawa a hard time.

"I _promise_," Misawa was saying. "I've scouted this particular area myself, quite thoroughly. I assure you that it is the safest place I could find."

O'Brien didn't look impressed. "How safe is that?"

"Safe," said Misawa firmly. "According to my calculations, the odds of us being attacked by anything hostile are lower than getting hit by a car on the way home. I hope that's safe enough for you."

O'Brien still didn't look pleased, but he subsided with a mutter.

"Oh, relax," said Pegasus. "I'm sure it will be fun. What's a trip like this without a little adventure?"

"We're almost ready!" a technician called to them. "Better get into position."

Pegasus nodded and headed obligingly towards the departure point. Eager as he was to get going, he couldn't help but admire the laboratory a little as he walked through it. After all, it had been mostly his money that financed it - who else would be willing to pour millions of dollars into researching Duel Monsters? He had, in fact, given the scientists a whole island of their own to work with, creating something like a miniature town. A row of cabins lines the one and only street, providing homes for the scientists who spent most of their time there. The street led up to the laboratory, an impressive structure that loomed over the smaller cabins like a mother bird over its chicks.

The inside of the building was surprisingly low-key. The lab itself was a strictly functional place, minus all the blinking lights and flashing graphs that made science fiction movies so impressive, but Pegasus knew enough to know that the simpler and less pretentious something was, the more likely that it was a piece of top of the line technology. Certainly he'd seen the figures for how much this equipment cost. He walked slowly past the monuments of brushed steel with their discreet displays, his footsteps falling softly on the smooth tile floor.

At the far end of the room stood an enormous structure of metal and glass, a testament to the creativity of mankind. Pegasus thought it looked like some sort of night light, or perhaps a large bug zapper. In front of the machine was a simple metal platform with a spiderweb of cables snaking around, under, and over it, with only a narrow passage into its center. The group huddled in the single open space, trying to get all their luggage piled there with it without interfering with any of the wires.

"All right, just stand still," said a technician. "Is everyone in? All right. Just relax. You may experience a momentary sense of disorientation when you land, but that's perfectly normal and will wear off in a few seconds. We're going to start the launch now, so hang tight." Pegasus felt a flutter of anticipation. Up until this moment, hehadn't really _believed_ that he was going to another world. It had felt as though he were simply going on another one of his jaunts, off to research some obscure bit of lost knowledge. Standing there now, watching bits of machinery slide into place all around him, it began to dawn on him that he was about to do something really rather extraordinary, and for the first time it occurred to him to wonder if this was really such a good idea.

"All systems operating on full power," said a technician.

"Coordinates set," another chimed in.

The first one nodded briskly. "Now activating initiation sequence. Please remain still."

There was a whirring sound, one that started quietly but rose in volume and intensity until the floor vibrated with it. The light level in the room grew along with it, until it was like staring directly into a spotlight. It seemed to come from everywhere at once...but that was impossible, because there was nothing in that laboratory that could have emitted that much light...

Then, as though someone had flipped a switch, the lights returned to normal. The laboratory sounded very quiet after all the commotion.

"Transfer sequence complete," said a technician, but Pegasus didn't hear it, because he was already gone.

**To Be Continued...**


	2. The Lady

**The Lady**

**By: SilvorMoon**

The sun was shining. Pegasus could feel it warming his face. He stirred a little, and felt dry leaves and dirt beneath his hands. It took him a few moments of puzzled contemplation before he sorted out what he was doing lying on the ground.

_A few moments of disorientation, my foot!_ he thought. The journey had left him feeling a bit woozy and cranky. Nevertheless, he managed to stir himself enough to roll over and start forcing himself to his feet. He could hear the sounds of others going through similar ordeals. Still, he didn't have his wits about him quite enough to pay attention to anything but trying to get his feet on the ground and the rest of him arranged correctly above him.

Not until someone shouted.

"How in the world...?" said Misawa. "How did you get here?"

Pegasus looked up and got a proper look at his surroundings for the first time. The group appeared to have landed on the outskirts of a hardwood forest, where a few spindly saplings were fighting for territory against regiments of weeds and rocks. One particularly healthy young tree was perched atop a small hill, where it cast its dappled shade over the figure that was dozing there. He was wearing a much-abused red jacket, and a cat a was asleep at his side. A creature that was not a cat was resting on his lap.

"I got word you were coming," he said, which didn't answer the question at all, but what could you expect from him?

Misawa shook his head. "Yuuki Juudai, you are something else," he said, in a tone of mixed admiration and exasperation.

His other friends were more enthusiastic, however, and it wasn't long before Juudai was happily conversing with his old school chums, while his Kuriboh hovered over his shoulder and twittered comments occasionally, and Pegasus stood aside and looked on, wondering whether or not this trip was ever going to make it beyond this point. His entourage, it seemed, would have happily stood there and caught up on the news with Juudai until sometime next week. Granted, whatever he'd been doing sounded interesting. His storytelling style wasn't the most concise or organized, and Pegasus wasn't standing close enough to catch every word, but the impression that he got was that the boy had been roaming back and forth between worlds, sleeping on the sofas of old and new friends or catching lifts from roving bands of goblins. The tone of his voice proclaimed that he had loved every minute of it.

"Listen," said Pegasus, after this had been going on a while, "I hate to be a bother, but weren't we planning on going somewhere, perhaps sometime this month?"

"Right, quite so," said Misawa, obviously preparing to slip back into his role as tour guide, but Juudai took the wind out of his sails.

"Exactly!" said Juudai. "That's why I came to help!"

"You're coming with us?" asked Hayato hopefully.

"Sure!" said Juudai. "I thought it would be a good way for us all to hang out. Besides, you might need me for something."

"Well, I suppose that would be all right..." said Misawa, casting a look to Pegasus for approval.

"Fine by me," said Pegasus, "as long as we get it settled now so we don't have to stand here all day."

"Great," said Juudai. He bounded to his feet and slung the bag he'd been using as a pillow over his shoulder. "Where are we going?"

Misawa explained to him that they were traveling to a nearby village, apparently called Last Rock. Juudai appeared familiar with it, so he fell in with the rest of the crowd and marched confidently along with them.

Pegasus had been a slight bit concerned when he had taken in his surroundings and realized that their destination was not anywhere in sight, fearing that he was about to be taken on a ten-mile hike. He liked to think that he kept himself in reasonably good shape, considering that he was primarily a desk worker, but the idea of marching for miles over rough ground was not one he readily embraced. However, it turned out that the walk was a pleasant one: the day was sunny, with a cool breeze blowing, and the root-strewn ground soon gave way to soft grasses. They had gone only a short distance before they caught glimpses of rising plumes of smoke, and soon they crested a hill and could look down to see a small cluster of houses nestled along the edges of a small river. It rested at the bottom of a deep valley, and an arm of the forest reached around it on the side closest to them.

"Are we going to have to walk through that?" Hayto asked.

"It's better than going the other direction," said Misawa. "The other side is bordered by a wasteland - there's no shade and no fresh water, and the beasts there are more aggressive."

Juudai nodded. "There's not much to eat out there, so they get kinda hungry..."

"Okay! Forest sounds good," Hayato agreed.

O'Brien nodded. "I know a few things about dealing with forests."

"So do I, actually," said Misawa. "Taniya's a good teacher. And that forest is hardly a ravening wilderness. A lot of the locals choose to live there rather than put up with the noise and crowds in the town."

"Good," said Pegasus. "I came here to see Duel Monsters, and I'm determined to see some." As far as he was concerned, this was all rather disappointing so far. He hadn't seen anything yet that he couldn't see back on earth.

He was more pleased by the forest, though. A jumble of coniferous trees grew together alongside things that looked more like palm trees than anything else, and which bore peculiar pink and yellow fruits. It wasn't long before they saw their first monster, in the form of a blue bird with long trailing tailfeathers, which made Pegasus exclaim with delight, but soon they were passing birds, beasts, and bugs with enough regularity that they became a pleasant part of the background rather than something to remark upon every time they saw one. Once they stopped to drink cool water from a flowing spring, and further on, they helped themselves to the fruit of a bush that was growing fat purple berries with white spots, which Misawa assured them all were both good-tasting and nutritious. Once they passed by someone's habitation, and were greeted by the Celtic Elf who lived there, who seemed to recognize Juudai.

"Good to see you're still in one piece," he said. "I've wondered whatever became of you since the last time you were here."

"It was just a twisted ankle," Juudai protested. "It wasn't like I let anything really _bad_ happen to me."

"You brought friends this time, I see," said the Elf, looking at Juudai's companions.

"Yeah. This is Misawa, Hayato, and O'Brien, and _that_," Juudai added, pausing for emphasis, "is Pegasus J. Crawford."

The Celtic Elf's eyes widened. "Is that so? Then it is a great honor to welcome you, Pegasus Crawford. Your reputation precedes you."

"Really? I'm flattered!" said Pegasus, and he was. He had long felt an almost paternal attachment to his monsters, from the tiny adorable ones up to the monstrous grotesqueries, and he was pleased to think that some of them felt similarly about him.

"Your name is well known here," said the Elf. He looked thoughtful for a moment, apparently weighing how much he wanted to say. "In fact, you've inspired a few philosophical arguments."

"Is it anything I could shed any light on?" Pegasus asked.

"Doubtful," said the Elf. "You see, it's a question of your relationship to us. You see, every card you create has its real-life counterpart in this world. The question remains whether you paint the cards because the monsters exist, or whether the monsters exist because you painted them."

"I've heard of that," said Misawa thoughtfully. "Just talk around the taverns. I never really took it seriously." His tone made it clear that he hadn't had much time to spare on fruitless philosophizing.

"You should probably be cautious, in this place," said the Elf. "You're a bit of a mythical figure. There really is no telling how someone might react to meeting you. You should consider not giving your right name while you're visiting here."

"Is it really that dangerous?" asked Pegasus, feeling a bit put out. Getting reactions out of people was one of his great joys in life."I didn't come here just to hide from everyone."

"As you wish," said the Elf. "I just thought it would be fair to warn you."

"We're grateful for the warning," said O'Brien. "We'll make sure no harm befalls him."

"That is good," the Celtic Elf replied. "It relieves me to know that he is in good hands. Travel carefully, all of you."

They thanked the Elf and moved onward. The day was drawing to a close, and the forest that had been so cool and comfortable before was beginning to turn dark and menacing. The deepening shadows made every shrub and stump look larger and more menacing than they would in daylight. Odd sounds echoed out of the darkness, making a few party members jump and look uneasy every time a bird cried or an animal yelped. Only Juudai seemed to be completely at ease, striding along and looking neither left nor right, while the rest of the group huddled together and warily watched for signs of movement.

"What's everybody so tense for?" Juudai asked. "It's the same forest it was a few hours ago, just darker."

"Well, it's fine for you," said Misawa. "Not all of us are so attuned to the powers of darkness, you know."

"But there's nothing out there that's dangerous," Juudai pointed out. "See, nothing is bothering us."

"Kuri," his Kuriboh commented.

Juudai blinked. "What do you mean by that?"

"What is it? What did it say?" asked Pegasus. He felt more eager than not; he'd been hoping for a little excitement on this trip.

Hane Kuriboh chattered rapidly, and Juudai listened and nodded.

"He says we're being watched," Juudai said. "He doesn't think it's someone trying to hurt us, but..."

Without being asked, Hayato reached in his pocket and shuffled through his cards and slipped out the Des Koala card, summoning his partner to his side. It sat up straight and snuffled at the air.

"What do you think, buddy?" Hayato asked it.

The koala made a muttering noise, and Hayato frowned.

"He says we're surrounded," he said.

"So what do we do?" asked Juudai.

O'Brien drew his disk-gun and loaded it. "If we have to, we will fight our way out."

"Are we sure we can't try a peaceful solution first?" asked Misawa doubtfully.

Pegaus waved a hand. "Knock yourself out."

Misawa nodded, looking suddenly put on the spot. He took a few steps towards the darkest part of the forest and cleared his throat.

"Hello?" he called. "Is anyone out there? We aren't looking for any trouble - we're just trying to get to the village."

In response, the bushes began to rustle. Voices drifted out of the shadows.

"They say they're going to the village."

"Yep, that's definitely what he said."

"But they're not supposed to go to the village."

"No, they're not. They're supposed to come with us."

"Right, because Her Ladyship told us to bring them."

"That's what she said, yep."

Misawa looked back at the rest of his companions.

"Well, that doesn't sound very promising, does it?" he asked them.

There was a clamor in the woods, and suddenly the group found themselves surrounded by what looked like a small army of goblins. O'Brien hissed and pulled his gun, training it on the goblins nearest to him, while the others instinctively drew into a huddle, back to back, and powered on their Duel Disks. The Duel Spirits kept close to their partners, fur bristling, while Pharaoh arched his back and hissed.

"Hey, take it easy," said one of the goblins nearest to them. He was short and fat, with enormous flat feet. "We're not here to give you any trouble. We're here to guide you."

"Yep, we're your guides," said the goblin next to him. This one was slightly taller, with a bulbous nose. "Our lady, she said there would be humans in this forest, and we were to find them and bring them to her."

"And then what?" asked O'Brien warily.

"And then," said Flat-Foot, "we have dinner. So you really need to hurry up, 'cause we're all pretty hungry."

"And what are we?" asked Hayato nervously. "The main course?"

The goblins looked scandalized. "Of course not! You're the guests of honor!"

"So what you're saying," said Juudai, "is that your leader lady wants us to come party at your place. Is that right?"

"Yep, that's right!" said Big-Nose. "She heard you're traveling with Pegasus, and she wants to meet him in person!"

"Oh, well, that's all right, then!" said Pegasus, laughing.

"Are you sure? This could be some kind of trick," O'Brien warned.

"Of course it's not," said Pegasus. "Look, these fellows seem perfectly friendly, and we could use a place to stay for the night. Why not drop in and have a meal with them, and push on in the morning?"

"Exactly!" said Flat-Foot. "You have to come meet the lady! She wants to see you!"

"See, perfectly innocent motivation," said Pegasus.

Juudai looked thoughtfully at the goblins. "You sure you guys aren't going to let anything happen to him? I mean, no offense, but a bunch of goblins wandering around in a forest in the middle of the night..."

The biggest and most muscular of the goblins said to him, "Look, we had you surrounded. You never even saw us coming. We have you outnumbered, and we have big clubs. If we wanted to hurt you, we'd have done it by now."

"That's a very good point," said Misawa. "Who's this lady you work for?"

"The lady is the lady," said the goblin, as though speaking to an idiot. "She's really beautiful..."

"_Really_ beautiful," another one agreed. "Nobody ever makes her angry. We can't stand to see her sad."

"Aw, c'mon," said Pegasus, prodding O'Brien in the shoulder. "These are obviously decent sorts. Let's follow them."

O'Brien glowered at him, but at last he shrugged and said, "You're in charge."

The goblins cheered, and Pegasus smiled.

_They're cute, really,_ he thought, watching them frolic around, plainly in transports of joy at having completed their mission. How could he suspect them of being up to anything? In truth, he found their devotion to their lady to be charming. He made a mental note to be polite to her, whoever she was. Obviously an admirer. It paid to be nice to one's fans.

The goblins, chatting and laughing, lead the way to a rough trail that had been cut through the forest. It was obviously a recent creation - even an inexperienced woodsman like Pegasus could see that someone had come through and simply chopped away everything that was in their path, leaving behind a strip of broken branches and stumps, some still oozing sap. After they had gone a short distance, they began catching whiffs of woodsmoke and the smell of good things being cooked. The air carried distant sounds of shouts, laughter, music and song.

"Ha, sounds like these goblins know how to party!" said Juudai cheerfully. This might be fun after all. I'm _starving_."

"Don't worry - we made enough food for everybody," said one of the goblins cheerfully. "And there's going to be a dance later! Do you dance?"

Juudai laughed. "Sure, why not?"

Soon they reached a clearing in the trees, where a campsite had been set up. It was almost a village, made up of a number of tents and a few ramshackle huts near the middle of it. At the very center was an area that had been cleared of all plant life and scraped down to bare dirt, and there the goblins had built a massive bonfire that lit the whole clearing. Around it, a number of long wooden tables had been arranged in a rough circle, and each of them was piled high with platters of roasted meat and vegetables, pots of stew, or baskets of hot bread. The smell was mouthwatering, and more than one stomach growled as the little group moved into the circle of firelight.

"They're here, they're here!" shouted the goblins gleefully, racing ahead of them. "Three cheers for our guests! Hooray for the guests of honor!"

"They certainly are friendly here, aren't they?" Misawa observed. He seemed to have come to terms with the idea of having dinner with goblins, and was looking quite relaxed.

"Are goblins usually this friendly?" asked Pegasus.

"Oh, they're usually all right," Misawa agreed. "There's a village of them close to where I live, and I visit frequently to do the shopping and take a few odd jobs. They're a clever lot, really. Always building things."

"I wonder why they built a village here, in the middle of nowhere," O'Brien mused, as he watched the goblins carrying chairs and benches to the tables.

"Well, it's logic," said Juudai. "You can't build a village where there's already people living. The middle of nowhere is the only place where there's room."

"Yes, but there's no reason to be _here_. There's no water source, it's not in a defensible position..."

"This is where Her Ladyship told us to make camp," said a nearby goblin.

"I really want to meet this lady," said Hayato. "She must really be something, to have all these goblins falling all over her like this."

"Oh, you never know," said Misawa. "Things might look different, to a goblin."

"Yeah! She might have green skin and fangs like this!" said Juudai, holding his fingers to his mouth to approximate teeth.

All of the goblins were gathering in the center of the village, standing in a large circle around the tables and the bonfire, patiently waiting, and their human guests were swept up in the crowd. Without even meaning to, they found themselves moving to the front of the mass, helped along by any number of leathery clawed hands, until they were close enough to the bonfire to feel the heat radiating off of it. There was a hush, filled only with the sound of shifting feet and jingling armor. It was a waiting silence, and the travelers found themselves loath to break it. Without even realizing it, each of them were holding their breath.

Then the door to one of the wooden huts opened, and the lady stepped out. There was no doubt that it was her. The eye was irresistibly drawn to her; she seemed to move in her own aura of light. She was clothed all in white, and a pair of shimmering white wings adorned her back. Her golden hair was worn loose, spilling in soft waves nearly to her feet. She turned her face slowly, scanning the crowds, and her eyes fell on the little group of visitors.

"Oh!" she cried. "It's him! It's really him!"

She broke into a run, rushing across the square to throw her arms around Pegasus and bury her face against his shoulder. Pegasus stared at her, looking as though he would back away if only she weren't clinging to him so tightly, and if he hadn't been flanked by an immovable wall of goblins.

"What... what are you..?" he stammered.

The lady raised her eyes. "You don't recognize me, Pegasus? Have I changed so much?"

There was a moment of silence. Pegasus's already pale face had gone nearly white as he gazed at the woman staring up at him.

"It can't be... Are you really...?"

She nodded. "I've finally found you again. I've been waiting so long..."

"I don't believe it," said Pegasus, but he was already closing his arms around her, drawing her closer. "Cyndia..."

The crowd erupted into noisy chatter - it seemed the goblins did not understand what was going on more than anyone else. Juudai turned to look at his friends in confusion.

"Who's Cyndia?" he asked.

Hayato was still staring at the spectacle, his brow creased. "She's his old girlfriend. I mean, Pegasus was engaged to her once. He doesn't really talk about it much..."

"He was engaged to a duel monster?" asked O'Brien.

"_No,_" said Hayato firmly. "She's not supposed to be a duel monster. That's what's weird. She's supposed to be dead."

Juudai looked back at the happy couple, who were now murmuring to each other and not paying any attention to what was going on around them.

"She doesn't look dead to me," he opined.

"That's what worries me," said Hayato.

"Are you certain it's the same person?" asked Misawa.

Hayato nodded. "I've been into Pegasus's private study a couple of times. He's got her picture on the wall, and I asked who she was. He said she was his childhood sweetheart, and that she died of some sort of disease before they could get married. I remember it pretty clearly. He's always such a happy guy, you know, but when he talked about her..."

"Well, they look happy now," said Juudai. He frowned a little himself. "Though you're right - there is something just a little weird about all this."

The goblins, however, didn't seem to feel that way. They cheered and applauded, apparently thrilled that their lady had found what she had been looking for. They surged forward to gather around the tables for a celebration. Pegasus himself was led to the head of the table to be seated at the lady's right hand. The rest of the group was apparently forgotten, and left to find seats wherever they could. This turned out not to matter very much, as there was more than enough food to go around, and plenty of empty chairs besides. There was nothing to do but settle in and help themselves to whatever looked interesting before someone else ate it instead. In fact, it seemed that the only ones who weren't thoroughly occupied with eating were Pegasus and Cyndia, who had eyes only for each other. From further down the table, Juudai could hear parts of their conversation.

"...not the first time," she was saying. "The Blue Eyes White Dragon, for example. She was originally a human girl, who died protecting the high priest. The Black Magician was human once, too. It's been known to happen..."

Pegasus was listening intently, nodding at intervals and making attentive noises. He didn't seem to have even noticed that there was food in front of him.

_But that's how it should be,_ Juudai thought, as he polished off his third helping of dinner. He smiled at himself. Apparently fusing with Yubel had given him a bit of her romantic streak - enough, at least, to find it touching to see the long-lost lovers be reunited. He hoped they would be happy.

When at last the meal was drawing to a close, a potbellied goblin waddled over to Juudai's side.

"On behalf of her ladyship, we invite you to stay the night in our camp," he said. "We've made up tents for you all."

"Sounds good to me," said Juudai. "Better than sleeping out in the open."

"Right this way, then," the goblin replied, and began marching off again.

"Hey, wait," said Hayato. "What about Mr. Pegasus? Where is he going to sleep?"

The goblin cleared his throat. "Her ladyship requested that he share her cabin, in deference to his status."

Juudai blinked. "How come he gets a real house and we get a tent?"

"Don't ask foolish questions," Misawa scolded him.

"But it's not fair!"

"Just deal with it."

Juudai glared at Misawa, but made no further protestations.

"Those are the lady's wishes," said the goblin. "Besides, there isn't enough room in her cabin for all of you."

"Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense," said Juudai. He scooped up Pharaoh, who had been joyfully stuffing himself and was now sound asleep with all four feet in the air and his stomach stretched tight as a drum. "All right, lead the way."

The goblin, puffed with the importance of having a special task of his own, marched them all to the edge of the camp, where a row of tents had indeed been set up, one for each human member of the party. They were each large enough that their occupants could stand up straight inside them, and lie down with their arms and legs outstretched without touching the walls. The ground beneath them had been cleared of any rocks or roots that would have made them uncomfortable, and strips of what seemed to be oiled or waxed cloth were spread over the earth to keep any water from seeping in. Each tent came equipped with a fluffy sleeping bag, as well as a lantern hung from the ceiling, giving off a warm light. As far as tents went, they looked quite comfortable.

"Good night, guys," said Juudai, as he opened his tent flap. "See you all in the morning!"

"More like the afternoon," Hayato said. "I lived with you, remember? I know how you sleep."

The others chuckled, and Juudai flashed his old friend a grin before ducking into his tent. Once inside, he plopped Pharaoh down in a corner, where the cat immediately curled up and went back to sleep. Juudai kicked off his boots and removed his jacket before blowing out the lamp and snuggling down into his sleeping bag. It was just as warm and comfortable as it looked. He yawned, looking forward to getting some quality snoozing done.

"Juudai," murmured a voice. "You aren't going to sleep yet, are you?"

"Mm?" he said drowsily. "What's up, Yubel?"

Resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to get any sleep just yet, he opened his eyes to see his spirit companion sitting next to him. She was folded up on herself, with her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin resting on her knees. Her eyes were three bright points of color in the dark tent.

"I don't like that woman," she said.

"Who? Cyndia?" asked Juudai. "She seemed nice enough to me. I would have thought you would like seeing those two get together again."

"You aren't looking properly," said Yubel, giving him an accusing look. "Try using your gifts and see where that gets you."

"It would be easier if you just told me," Juudai said.

Yubel smiled at him. "Dear, foolish Juudai. I am touched by your trust, but you should still have a look for yourself. You will understand better if you see it."

"If you say so."

Juudai realized that he was not going to get any sleep - would not, in fact, be allowed to get any sleep - until he had dealt with this matter, so he reluctantly got up and started pulling on his shoes and jacket back on. Yubel apparently approved. She flitted out of the tent and back in again.

"You'll have to be careful," she said. "There are many goblins out and about, looking for mischief. They won't approve of you disturbing their lady." She spoke the last word with distaste, as though she thought she was using language Juudai was too young to hear.

Juudai nodded. "I'll do it the hard way, then."

Yubel nodded, and then she wasn't there... to see, at least, but for Juudai, she was always there. He smiled as the two of them rejoined. He opened the flap of his tent and slipped silently into the shadows. The darkness wrapped around him like the arms of an old friend, and when he walked past the goblin guards, they saw nothing at all. Juudai was pleased. Sometimes it was nice to be the living embodiment of the Right Powers of Darkness.

By the time he reached the village square, the mighty bonfire had died down to embers, making it easy for Juudai to work his way up to the cabins. He paused in the deepest shadow he could find, pressed up against a wall as he considered where to go from there. He had not seen which cabin Pegasus and Cyndia had entered, and there were a half-dozen choices. He had no choice but to pick his way from window to window, peering inside the houses to search for signs of life. The first one he investigated seemed to be empty. The next three were apparently the homes of the more highly ranked goblin officers, who were now snoring contentedly in their beds or sitting up counting loot. Juudai was just beginning to grow frustrated when he peeked into a fifth cabin and saw that the inhabitants were human.

Juudai's first impression was that nothing was amiss. Pegasus and Cyndia were seated across from each other at a roughly carved wooden table, plainly deep in discussion. They looked happy and relaxed, and Juudai found himself doubting Yubel's impressions. After all, how was she to know how to judge how human couples should behave? She hardly had a representative experience of the matter.

_Look more closely,_ she urged him. _Really look at her. Use my eyes._

Juudai nodded, closed his eyes a moment, then opened them again. Immediately the world looked different to him, clearer and sharper. If he'd been asked, he would have said that everything he saw looked more like itself, though he would not have been able to put it more clearly than that. Yubel's eyes were not easily deceived by appearances. Now he turned those eyes onto the beautiful woman seated at the table.

For a moment, it was though nothing had changed. Then the lady took on a peculiarly translucent quality, as though she were not there in truth, but was only a projection on a screen. Then even that faded, and Juudai found himself staring at a goblin woman. Not just any goblin woman, either: she was without a doubt the ugliest goblin Juudai had ever set eyes on. She had a squat, lumpy body and an equally flabby face, with a large pockmarked nose, a mouth full of crooked teeth that overflowed her mouth. It was obvious she had done what she could by means of clothing and jewelry to improve herself, but her embellishments only served as contrast to the rest of her. What made the sight all the more disturbing was that even though Juudai was now seeing her for what she was, he could still hear Cyndia's sweet voice coming out of the goblin woman's toothy mouth, and still seeing Pegasus gazing adoringly at her as though she were the loveliest thing he'd ever seen. Juudai recoiled.

"She's a fake," he whispered.

_Now you see,_ said Yubel. _I do not know what she intends to do, but I know it can't be good. What will you do?_

"I'm going to go in there and tell him what's going on!"

_He won't believe you,_ Yubel warned. _The illusion is aimed toward him specifically, and he is very deeply caught up in it. He wants to believe it is true, you see. That makes the spell very powerful. She can't fool both of us together, but nothing will make him see what is right under his nose as long as he refuses to admit that it is there._

"So we're going to need some help."

_No doubt._

"I guess I had better tell the others about this."

_That would be wise._

"You don't have to sound so smug about it."

_You are wasting time,_ Yubel chided gently.

"All right, all right, I'm going."

Juudai went. He took the most direct route back to his tent that he could find, not an easy task since the camp had been thrown together without much thought for symmetry or navigability. Juudai was so intent on reaching his goal that he did not spare enough concentration on keeping up his shadowy camouflage.

"Hey, where are you going?" a goblin called out to him. "You're supposed to be in your tent!"

_Think fast, Juudai._ He wasn't sure whether that thought came from him or from Yubel, but either way, it sounded like good advice. He grinned disarmingly.

"The lady wanted me to bring something for Pegasus," he said. "You know, since we've got his luggage and all."

"Oh!" said the goblin. "Well, I guess that's all right, then."

"Yeah, everything's fine," said Juudai. "I'm going back to my tent now. I sure am sleepy."

Satisfied by this fabrication, the goblin marched off again. Juudai heaved a sigh of relief and made a mental note to give his sincerest thanks to Professor Chronos the next time he saw him. A few years of being in his class had given Juudai more practice at making excuses and prevarications than anything else in his life. You had to come up with a _really good_ story to put one past Professor Chronos. Next to him, goblins were nothing.

Juudai reached his tent, but instead of going into it, he set about trying to wake the rest of the crew.

"Guys, come on, wake up!" he called, trying ineffectively to try to shout and whisper at the same time. "We've got big trouble."

O'Brien, good soldier that he was, was on his feet before he even had his eyes open properly. "What's going on?"

"Jus' five more minutes...." Hayato mumbled into his pillow. The Des Koala swatted him, and he yelped. "Okay, okay, I'm up!"

Misawa came crawling out of his tent, looking irritated by the disruption. "Just what is your problem?"

"Keep it down," said Juudai. "The goblins will hear us. Listen, that lady - the one Pegasus thinks is Cyndia. She's not. She's a fake!"

"How do you know?" asked Misawa.

"Because I saw," said Juudai. "She's got some kind of illusion on her. She's really just a goblin like the rest. Guys, I think this is something really bad. We've got to get Pegasus out of here, and fast."

"That won't be easy," said O'Brien. "He won't leave voluntarily as long as he is convinced that this woman is his lost love. Making him leave involuntarily would bring the goblins down on us."

"We may have to do that anyway," said Misawa thoughtfully. "While Juudai may have certain talents, they won't be any good for showing the rest of us what he sees."

"Not really," Juudai admitted. "The Darkness is really better for hiding things. It's only because of Yubel that I could see through the illusion at all, and even then it was tricky."

"I knew there was something funny about all this," said Hayato. "I just knew it was too easy. What are we going to do?"

"We may have to force the issue," said O'Brien grimly. "We have to assume that this goblin woman isn't doing this for a good reason, and that Pegasus is not safe here. He won't leave without proof that he is in danger, and we've already agreed that we have no proof beyond Juudai's word." He smiled wryly. "At least if this woman sends a horde of angry goblins after us, it should be convincing proof that she is not what she seems."

"I guess we'd better go do something," said Juudai resolutely. "Come on - I'll show you where they are."

Meanwhile, Pegasus was still seated at the kitchen table, trying to come to terms with what he had experienced in the last hour or so. It was not easy, because when it came down to it, it wasn't something he wanted to think about too closely. He wanted very much to believe all her logical- sounding explanations and to be convinced that all of this was all real and it was going to be neat and simple from here on in. He would have liked to believe that. Unfortunately for him, Pegasus was hardly innocent anymore. The world had dealt him enough hard knocks to convince him that _nothing_ was ever this easy. You simply did not invest years of time and effort into finding someone, just to walk around the corner and bump into her as though she had only gone out shopping. Life didn't work that way. You didn't get what you wanted without a fight, and sometimes when it was all over, you still didn't get anything. Even though the greater part of him was trying to be happy, there was a small but persistent place in his mind that was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"I'm so glad you finally came here," she was saying. "I was beginning to think you would never come."

"If I had known, I would have been here much sooner."

"But you're going to stay here now, right?" she asked, gazing at him imploringly.

"Well, I... I hadn't really thought about it..."

"You should," she said. "This world is so much better for you. You can do anything you like here."

He laughed a little. "And since when have I not done whatever I like?"

She gave him a tolerant smile. "But it's different, here. You can make things happen. Things come into existence here just because you paint them. Can't you see how much better things are in a world you could change to be whatever you wanted?"

"I like the world the way it is," he said.

"You haven't seen enough to know," she answered, her expression darkening. "It isn't fair. It's full of horrible monsters, and full of cruelty. You could clean it up. You could make it better, if you wanted to."

"I put those monsters there because I wanted them there."

"The least you could do is make them behave!" she snapped.

"It's not my place to tell other people what to think."

"This is your place!" she insisted. "You made it what it is! You made everything in it. It wouldn't even exist if it weren't for you. Don't you think you have the right to change things if you want to?"

"No, I don't," Pegasus snapped. He stood up.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Leaving," he said coldly. "I don't know who you are, but you aren't Cyndia."

"How can you think that?" she asked, rushing after him. "I'm only saying..."

"Yes, you are only saying. You're saying things that she would never say," he answered, not even turning to look at her. "The _real_ Cyndia was a gentle soul who would never force her will on anyone else, and she wouldn't ask me to do it either."

"Pegasus, don't go..."

He turned on her, his face lined with fury. In a shaking voice, he said, "Don't even speak to me. How dare you dishonor her memory by using her image in such a way? Get out of my sight - you disgust me."

She snarled, her angelic face shifting to something far more sinister. With her teeth bared and eyes flashing, she looked no more human than a child in a Halloween costume resembled a monster.

"How dare you speak to me in that tone of voice!" she hissed. "After all I went through for you!"

"You've never done anything for me," said Pegasus. "Certainly nothing I want."

"You wanted to see her again, didn't you? I sent you those dreams! I took this form only to please you."

"Well, I am seriously displeased," he snapped, "and I am leaving!"

He turned and marched out the door, slamming it behind him. She leapt to her feet and ran to open it.

"Guards!" she shouted. "Seize him! Don't let him get away!"

Pegasus went from a dignified march to a flat-out run. It didn't do him any good. He was not athletic by nature, and couldn't go very far before he was panting for air. The goblins, on the other hand, were quick to obey their lady's summons, and in moments the camp was alive with bellowing goblins. Fortunately, it took them a few moments to work out just what they had been summoned for, and Pegaus pushed his way past them while they milled about in confusion. Somewhere behind him, above the din made by the goblins, he could hear the shrill voice of the lady shouting orders. He knew it wouldn't take long for the guards to figure out what was happening, and then he'd be in real trouble. Even with a head start, the fact remained that he was at the very center of a large town filled with goblins, and no matter what he did, he was already hemmed in.

Or at least, he was until something exploded. Goblins scattered in all directions as a fireball landed in the middle of the road, and Pegasus was only barely able to skid to a stop before he ran straight into it.

"Sorry about that! Didn't see you!" someone called.

"Juudai!" said Pegasus. "Am I ever glad to see you! I'm in a bit of a predicament."

"Don't worry," said O'Brien, stepping out from behind a tent with his disk gun drawn. "We'll cover you."

"Guys, get Pegasus out of here," said Juudai. "We'll keep the goblins busy."

"We?" asked Hayato. "Who's we?"

There was a ripple in the air next to Juudai.

"Him and me," said Yubel with a toothy smile.

Pegasus gawked at her for a split second, then recovered himself.

"I feel I'm in good hands," he said. "All right, let's go."

They took off at a run, with Misawa and Hayato herding Pegasus along, while O'Brien and the Des Koala brought up the rear, watching for signs of trouble. Any goblin that got too near was dispatched by a blast from O'Brien's weapon or a swing of the Koala's heavy paw.

But not many got through. Yubel stood casually in the middle of the path, her wings outstretched. She folded her arms across her chest and gave the goblins a lazy smile.

"Hello, boys," she purred. "Why don't you stop and play a while? I'm sure you'll find me a much more interesting challenge than that poor human."

The goblins stopped and stared at her.

"What do we do?"

"We've got her outnumbered! We can take her!"

"We go around her, you idiot! She can't block off the whole village!"

Yubel flexed her claws. "Try me."

A few moments later, Juudai had rejoined the rest of the group.

"What are you doing back here?" Misawa asked. "I thought you were supposed to be back there with the goblins!"

"I decided I'd rather not look," said Juudai.

They ran until they could run no further, and then continued to limp along at the fastest walk they could manage, pressing on long after they had left any traces of the goblin village and its inhabitants behind. Even the hardiest was sweating and footsore by the time O'Brien called a halt. The rest of the party dropped onto the ground wherever they had stopped and attempted to catch their breath. Misawa fished a handkerchief out of his pocket and mopped his brow.

"I'm glad that's over," he said.

"Are you okay, Mr. Pegasus?" Hayato asked, giving him a worried look.

"Hm?" said Pegasus. "Mm."

"Just let him be," said O'Brien.

Juudai was staring back the way they had come. His Hane Kuriboh hovered over his shoulder, making worried cooing noises.

"What's keeping her?" Juudai wondered aloud. "She should have caught up with us by now..."

However, a moment later, there was a rush of wings, and Yubel fluttered down to land delicately in front of him.

"That was fun," she said. She darted out her tongue to lick her claws.

"You know, Juudai," said Misawa, "I know how important she is to you, but she _still_ makes my skin crawl."

Yubel smiled at him, showing her fangs.

"_Your_ opinion doesn't matter," she said. "I only love Juudai." She looked thoughtful a moment. "But I don't mind protecting the man who paints," she said, casting a look at Pegasus. "He made the card, after all. I would not have found my way back to Juudai without him."

She faded out of view again. Juudai sighed with relief, now that she was back where she belonged. Yubel rarely strayed out of his sight, much less traveled miles away from him, and he hadn't even realized how edgy he felt without her until he'd gone away.

"I don't think we can go any further today," said O'Brien, looking at the tired and dismayed group before him. "This place should be defensible enough. We'll make camp here for the night and figure out where to go from here in the morning."

Suiting action to words, he began clearing a patch of ground, and Juudai helped him gather wood and stones to build a campfire. Misawa rummaged through his bag and pulled out a map and compass, and began studying both intently.

"How far would you say we've gone from that village?" he asked.

"About seven miles," O'Brien replied, from where he was attempting to light the fire.

Misawa made a noise of annoyance. "We must have overshot the town. We've gone too far south. We're going to have to backtrack."

"There's no way I'm going back where we came from!" said Hayato. His Koala nodded its agreement.

"We can't stay out here," Misawa retorted. "We'll be safer in a habitation where we can get some help if need be."

"Why can't we just keep going forward?" asked Juudai. "That's what I'd do. Where are we now, anyway?"

Misawa held up his map so Juudai could see.

"We started here," he said, jabbing his pencil at some rocks drawn in the bottom corner of the map. "We were supposed to travel to this village, and then follow the trade routes to _this_ city here. Instead, we got sidetracked and ended up _here_, and then took off in a completely different direction and ended up _here_ somewhere." He gestured at a patch near the edge of his map.

"So what's over there?" Juudai asked.

Misawa threw up his hands in frustration. "I don't know! Nobody goes there."

"Maybe that's where we should be, then," said Juudai.

Misawa regarded him suspiciously. "Why?"

"Because," O'Brien interjected, "if nobody goes there, then maybe these goblins won't go there either."

"That's a thought," Misawa admitted. "On the other hand, we have no way of knowing whether there isn't something _worse_ than goblins the way we've been going. There might be a good reason why nobody ever goes this way. We can't go wandering off into the unknown for no good reason, especially with..." He nodded in the direction of Pegasus, who was paying no attention at all to them, but was instead gazing moodily into the flickering fire.

"A point," said O'Brien. "Very well. Tomorrow we go to the town, but we can't go any further tonight. Dangerous or not, I don't think Pegasus has the strength to go any further tonight."

"Him? What about me?" Hayato muttered, but not loud enough that anyone took any notice.

"Agreed," said Misawa. "Still, posting guards sounds like a good plan."

"I will take first watch," O'Brien said.

"Hm?" said Pegasus, rousing from his musings. "Did someone say something?"

"It's nothing," said Misawa reassuringly. "We were only talking about who would take first watch tonight."

"I will," said Pegasus. "I don't feel like I could sleep right now, anyway."

"Are you sure?" asked Juudai, concerned.

"Yes. Don't worry, I'm quite all right," Pegasus replied, but his voice sounded flat. "I just want some time alone to think, that's all."

"Hm," said O'Brien doubtfully. "Very well. But wake me the moment you hear anything out of the ordinary."

Pegasus nodded, but it was doubtful that he was really listening.

There didn't seem to be anything more to discuss. In depressed silence, the travelers unrolled their blankets and made themselves as comfortable as they could on the ground, keeping close to the warmth of the fire. Throughout the entire ordeal of fighting for places to sleep and trying to get all the rocks and pine cones out of the way, Pegasus remained still and silent, off in a world of his own. Even when Pharaoh came and sat on his feet and began to snore, he didn't react at all.

_I'm worried about him,_ Juudai thought, as he snuggled down next to Hane Kuriboh beneath his blanket.

_I understand his pain, a little,_ Yubel replied. _When I found you, and you did not know me, it hurt much like that, except that I had hope that you might be made to remember. He has no hope at all._

_Do you think he'll be okay?_

Juudai felt a shift in his mind, a kind of mental shrug. _How would I know?_

_I guess we'll just have to wait and see,_ Juudai replied. He yawned hugely. It had been a hard day. Compounded with his own exhaustion from the long journey was Yubel's weariness from battling the goblins. Sleep was necessary for both of them.

_Things will be better in the morning,_ he told himself, and then his mind sank into deep healing darkness.

**To Be Continued...**


	3. The Kingdom

**The Kingdom**

By: SilvorMoon

O'Brien was the first to wake, with a faint feeling that something was a bit off. He lay a moment with his eyes closed, trying to decide why he had awakened. He could tell from the light level around him that it was still dark, but his sense of time was telling him that it had been several hours since he had fallen asleep. There was no sound of birdsong, as he would have associated with the coming of morning, so it must have been very early, not yet dawn, perhaps four o'clock in the morning. By his estimate, it had been roughly ten at night when they had made camp and gone to bed.

Someone should have woken him by now.

With increasing wakefulness came clarity of thought. All this time, he had been subconsciously expecting Pegasus to finally give in to weariness, and to summon O'Brien to his turn at standing watch. The more time that had passed without any sign of being summoned, the more restlessly O'Brien had slept, until he had finally wakened himself to see what the holdup was. He rolled over and opened his eyes. The fire had burned down to a few faint embers. Juudai, Misawa, Hayato, and their monster companions were still sleeping soundly, but there was no sign of Pegasus.

"Everyone get up! Now!" O'Brien bellowed.

All around, there were grunts and yelps as people were jolted from sound sleeps and sat up, staring wildly.

"What? What?" Hayato exclaimed.

"Pegasus is missing," said O'Brien.

Juudai stretched and blinked sleepily. "Maybe he just had to go to the bushes?"

O'Brien gave him a glare. "He was supposed to wake me for watch duty, but he never did. The fire's burned out. He hasn't been here in a long time."

"Oh, _wonderful_," said Misawa, grimacing. "That's just what we needed. Could this trip get any better?"

O'Brien ignored him. "The sooner we start looking for him, the better chance we have of finding him. Get your things together and get ready to go."

There was a scramble to gather up belongings. O'Brien, more organized than most, finished first and began prowling around the perimeter of the camp, looking for signs to which direction Pegasus had gone. He frowned as he pointed a flashlight at a patch of earth, gently tracing the contours of a slight depression with one finger.

"Just as I thought," he muttered. "It looks like our friends came to join us last night."

"What do you mean?" Misawa asked, coming over to join him.

"Look," said O'Brien, pointing. "Those aren't human footprints. The goblins have been here."

"Hm," said Misawa, kneeling for a closer look. "Well, you're half-right."

"What?" O'Brien looked surprised at being contradicted.

"Those definitely aren't human footprints," said Misawa, "but they're not goblin footprints either. I'm familiar with goblins, as you might recall. Most of the ones from the village we left were soldier goblins - they wore shoes for long marches. Granted, there are a lot of varieties of goblins, but even the ones who usually don't wear shoes have feet that are similar to those of humans, save for slight variations in proportion. As you pointed out, this footprint is definitely not human. Only three toes, as you can see, and they end in long pointed claws. See here, too - there's a slight indentation left by a rearward claw at the heel of the foot. Offhand, I'd say this was a dragon footprint."

O'Brien looked at Misawa with a mixture of surprise and respect. "Where did you pick up all that?"

"Taniya is a hunter," Misawa replied. "I'm not in her league, but I pick up a few things after a while."

"Great!" said Hayato. "So instead of being captured by goblins, he's been captured by dragons!"

"Whatever's got him, we have to get him back," said Juudai. "Besides, look how small that footprint is! It wasn't a very big dragon. We can take it."

O'Brien continued to scour the ground. "There appears to have been more than one. I'm counting at least three... and there are some other prints I can't identify. Pegasus definitely went with them, though." He frowned a little. "No sign of a struggle. Whatever they did, it must have been quiet, or I would have heard it."

"Let's just hurry and get him back," said Hayato.

No one could disagree with that.

"This way," said O'Brien, and they set out.

Beyond the clearing where they had made their camp, the forest was very dark. O'Brien and Misawa had flashlights with them, but the thin beams did little more than illuminate the ground at their feet, and the progress was slow as those in front stopped often to reassure themselves that they were still on the correct trail. They were, in fact, so occupied with the ground that they were paying very little attention to their surroundings. It was Juudai with his sharp night vision who first began to take notice that something was a little amiss.

"Hey, guys," he said, "hold up a sec. Do these trees look... weird to you?"

"I don't know," said Hayato. "They look like trees to me."

"I know, but there's just something... I dunno. Not wrong exactly, but they don't look like regular trees."

"So they're a different species of tree," said Misawa. "That's nothing unusual here."

"But they aren't. I can tell they're pine trees, but there's something... Nevermind," said Juudai, exasperated.

"Right," said O'Brien. "We have more important things to worry about than the local plant life."

But as they continued onward, the sun began to rise, and with it came increasing visibility. The forest could be clearly seen now, and it became plain that there was something peculiar about these trees. They were simply too regularly shaped, each perfectly and uniformly green, without any bent or dead branches, no split trunks or deformities. There were a few stumps, but they were perfectly and cleanly cut, showing all their rings, and the fallen logs were likewise neat cylinders with all their branches sheared away, leaving only a few small nubs in their place. Some of them were even perfectly hollow. A few mushrooms grew in shady spots, each one with a red cap with white polka-dots on top.

"You know," said Hayato, looking around, "there's something familiar about this. I can't put my finger on it, but there's just something..." He frowned, thinking deeply, and suddenly brightened. "I've got it! Cartoons!"

"What?" said Misawa.

"Toons!" Hayato repeated. "It looks just like a cartoon. Only, you know, real."

"Well, maybe," said Misawa doubtfully...

"No, look, you don't get it," said Hayato. "This is Pegasus we're talking about, remember? Cartoons are his favorite things in the world. That's what he made the Toon cards for. So what if we made our camp near the Toon World..."

Juudai brightened, catching on."You think maybe he met some Toons and followed them?"

"Well, it does sound like the kind of weird thing he'd do," Hayato admitted.

O'Brien frowned. "It would explain why there was no noise of sign of a struggle... but he should have known how dangerous it is to wander off on his own. I can't believe he would do such a thing."

Hayato smiled wryly. "You don't know Pegasus well enough yet."

After a few more minutes of walking, they struck upon a path. It was, predictably enough, made of yellow bricks, and had a handy sign next to it labeled "Toon Kingdom" and pointing in the general direction they were heading. Now that there was no more reason to watch for footprints, they picked up their pace, all but running down the yellow brick road in hopes of overtaking their missing companion. As the sun rose fully above the horizon, they emerged from the forest and found themselves at the bottom of a gradually sloping hill. Near its peak, they could see the white walls of a city, and above that, at the very top, stood a castle. Even at a distance, it was plain to see that this was a veritable confection of a palace, with turrets and towers sticking out everywhere without any rhyme or reason, and dozens of colorful pennants flapping in the breeze wherever they would fit. As the group hurried toward the front gates, they could see a golden arch over the entrance, with large letters spelling out, "WELCOME TO TOON KINGDOM!" Everyone stopped a moment to stare. The doors were five times the height of anyone, and appeared to be immovably closed.

"How do we get in?" asked Hayato.

Juudai tilted his head back to gaze up at the ramparts.

"Hey, up there!" he shouted. "Open the doors! We need to get in! Hey! Is anybody in there?"

There was a flicker of movement, too far away to make out clearly, and then the doors began to swing slowly inward with much creaking and groaning. As soon as it opened, a little man with a tiny body and an enormous mask covering his face bounced out to greet them.

"Greetings! Welcome! Welcome to Toon Kingdom!" he exclaimed, shaking Juudai's hand vigorously. "We've been expecting you all! I am the Toon Masked Sorcerer, and it is my pleasure to greet you!"

"Yeah, thanks," said Juudai. "Listen, we're looking for our missing friend. Have you seen-"

"Pegasus, yes," said the Sorcerer. "He arrived here a few hours ago. We meant to send someone to fetch you all, but, well..."

There was a long pause. Misawa prompted, "But what?"

The Sorcerer blinked at him as though he had just noticed he was there.

"Hey," he said, "weren't you looking for Pegasus?"

"Well, yes," said Misawa, a bit taken aback.

"So what are we waiting for! Let's find him!" said the Masked Sorcerer brightly, and he scampered off.

"I guess we should follow him," said Juudai.

"Do you think he'll remember where he's taking us?" asked Hayato doubtfully.

Because there was nothing else they could do, they followed him anyway. The Toon City was bustling with the coming of the new day. In the streets, Toons were shouting morning greetings to each other or opening up their businesses for a new day. Hayato stopped to watch a Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon meticulously setting out a display of cream pies for sale, while a few tables down, a pair of Toon Gemini Elves were haggling over the price of anvils. Juudai wandered away from the group long enough to approach a Toon Alligator and pat it on the head before returning to his companions.

"Juudai," said Misawa, "why did you just pat that Toon Alligator on the head?"

Juudai shrugged. "I wanted to know what a cartoon feels like."

He ambled on ahead, while his friends regarded each other quizzically.

"What _does_ a cartoon feel like?" Hayato asked.

"I have no idea," Misawa admitted. "I'm not sure I have the temerity to find out."

The path they followed was predictably twisty, reflecting the architecture of the city they walked through. The houses were oddly proportioned things, with upper floors wider than their bottom halves, or roofs that twisted and zigzagged in unlikely ways. However, it didn't take long for anyone to figure out that they were moving more or less directly towards the castle at the center of the city. Everyone they passed seemed to know who they were and where they were going, and moved aside to let them pass as they walked by. Many of them even waved and called out greetings.

"They sure are a friendly bunch," said Juudai.

"The goblins were friendly too," said O'Brien darkly.

Nevertheless, they reached the moat of the castle without incident, and the drawbridge was lowered for them so that they could enter amid a flurry of cheerful if slightly out-of-tune trumpets. The Masked Sorcerer beamed with pride, as though he had personally built the castle for their enjoyment.

"Welcome to Toon Castle," he said. "I hope you'll enjoy your stay here! Pegasus is waiting for you in the sunroom. Just head up those stairs and take the corridor on your right."

He made shooing motions with his hands, and his followers obediently trotted up the stairs in search of Pegasus. At the end of the corridor the Sorcerer had indicated, there was a large open room, bounded mostly by windows, which was nearly filled with all manner of potted plants, some of them large enough to be counted as trees in their own right, many of them covered in brilliantly colored oversized flowers. The room was pleasantly furnished with wicker furniture, painted white, and a table stood in the middle of it all with a gleaming silver tea service spread on it. Seated amid all this splendor was Pegasus himself, looking out the window while eating scones and jam. He was gazing out the window with an expression of utter contentment as he watched a bevy of Toon Mermaids frolic in a fountain outside. He turned to greet his newly arrived friends with a bright smile.

"Why, hello there!" he said. "So you finally made it! And in time for breakfast. I was hoping you would."

"What are you doing here?" Misawa demanded. "We thought you had been abducted by goblins!"

Pegasus had the grace to look guilty, if only for a moment. Then he was all smiles again. "Well, you know, I happened to notice the Toons passing by and I thought I'd just follow a bit to see where they were going, and then I realized I didn't know how to get back again. But that's all right - they've been most kind to me. They seem to be quite taken with me, in fact. I asked them to go fetch you, but apparently... well, they _are_ cartoons. Most of them haven't got an attention span longer than half an hour."

"That doesn't matter," said Juudai cheerfully. "We're just glad you're okay! You gave us a scare, wandering off like that!"

"My apologies," said Pegasus, bowing his head, "but as you can see, I'm quite well. Nothing has ever been able to lift my spirits quite like my dear Toons, and they have been most attentive to me."

That much was plainly true. Even as he was speaking, a Toon Black Magician Girl walked into the sunroom carrying a stack of dishes and cups that wobbled precariously but never quite fell over. She spread them out on the table in front of the guests and then turned expectantly to Pegasus.

"Thank you, dear lady," he said, with a gracious half-bow. The Magician Girl giggled and cast him an adoring look before hurrying off again.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" said Pegasus to the rest of the group. "Sit down and join me for breakfast."

They helped themselves to scones and tea. After the long trek of the night before, plus another long march without breakfast, they were all ravenous, and made quick work of the food. It wasn't until the pastries were all gone and the teapot was nearly empty that they slowed down enough to chat again.

"So who else lives here?" asked Juudai.

"Hm?" said Pegasus, who had gone back to looking out the window. The mermaids had gotten hold of water balloons from somewhere, and were busy pelting them at eat other and the occasional passerby, so he could be forgiven for paying more attention to them than anything else.

"Well, there's this big huge castle," said Juudai. "Stands to reason somebody must live in it."

"I hadn't thought of that," Pegasus replied. He leaned back in his chair and stroked his chin thoughtfully. "You know, I don't know who lives here. I always sort of fancied myself as the king of Toon World, but seeing as how I'm not..."

"Maybe we should try to find out?" Hayato suggested.

"We _should_ find out," Misawa agreed. "It's not polite to accept hospitality from someone without at least saying thank-you."

"That's quite so," said Pegasus. "I'll ask someone."

Suiting action to words, he stood up and went to the door, calling, "Hello? Is anyone there?"

The sound of footsteps indicated the return of the Toon Masked Sorcerer.

"Yes? What can I do for you?" he asked cheerfully.

"We were wondering who is in charge here," asked Pegasus. "We'd be poor guests if we didn't express our regard for our host."

"Ah, very true," said the Sorcerer. "Shall I tell her you wish to meet her?"

"Yes, please," said Pegasus.

"Very well. One moment."

As the monster scampered off, Pegasus watched with approval, while the others gave each other concerned looks.

"You know," said Misawa, "I know there aren't but so many options, but I still can't help but feel that there's something ominous about it being a 'her' again."

Pegasus didn't seem to be having any such thoughts. He returned to his seat and poured himself a fresh cup of tea while he waited.

Which was just as well, because it was a lot longer than a moment before someone finally came to the door. Even then, she didn't come inside right away. A keen observer could have seen a shadow at the base of the door, as someone out there hovered irresolutely. At last, she seemed to come to some conclusion, and slowly pushed open the door, hiding behind it slightly so that all they could see of her at first was the trailing hem of her white dress and a flash of long blonde hair. She couldn't hide there forever, though, so at last she stepped into full view, hands folded in front of her in a gesture that was almost pleading, her head slightly bowed. Even so, there was no mistaking who she was. Everyone stared at her. She looked at them. Pegasus regarded her with a wry expression, with a quirk to his eyebrow and a twist to his lips that seemed to be saying, "Of course. Why wouldn't it be like this?"

Then he abruptly seemed to decide that he wasn't in the mood to deal with this, and he pitched over onto the floor in a dead faint. His teacup fell from his hands to shatter on the floor, soaking the carpet with steaming tea.

"Oh dear," she said. "I was afraid he would do that."

The Masked Sorcerer looked up at her. "Do you want me to wake him?"

"Not yet," she said, regarding Pegasus's motionless form. "Let him have this time."

The Sorcerer nodded and made a gesture. Pegasus levitated off the floor and drifted off to a chaise lounge on the edge of the room, as though he were being supported by an invisible stretcher. The Sorcerer followed him, apparently intent on keeping an eye on him so he didn't get into any more trouble.

Juudai, meanwhile, was glaring at the newcomer.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded. "Didn't you learn your lesson last time?"

She shook her head. "I'm sure you aren't going to believe this, but I've really never met you before in my life," she said. "The Toons will tell you that I rarely even step beyond the walls of this castle. No, the woman you met last night was Mogwen."

"Okay, fine," said Juudai. "Who the heck is Mogwen? How do you know about us meeting her? And who are you?"

The lady considered a moment, looking faintly sad.

"I am the Artist's Inspiration," she said. "It's probably best if you thought of me like that."

"I think you had better tell this story from the beginning," said Misawa. "And don't leave out anything important. I think you are going to have a difficult enough time as it is persuading any of us to trust you."

"I know," she said. She pulled up a chair and seated herself, drawing her skirts around her gracefully. "The beginning, then. That would be Mogwen, the Jealous Goblin. I don't know her whole history, but it seems she was born in a village far from here. She has always been... hm. I think it would be best to say that her appearance was never greatly appreciated."

Juudai, who was the only one among them to have seen Mogwen in her true form, found himself thinking that this Artist's Inspiration was being more kind than was necessary.

"She was also not a very strong monster," the Artist's Inspiration continued, "so she was rarely able to defend herself from those who shunned her. She was the laughingstock of her village, the target of everyone's jokes." She paused. "I learned this much from the Toons, when I asked them to find out what they could about her. Part of this is just inference, but I've been keeping a close watch on her almost since the day I got here, for obvious reasons. This is what I think: that Mogwen began to wish, mor than anything, to be beautiful, to be loved, and to be powerful enough to fight back against the ones who persecuted her... Are you aware of the stories they tell here, about Pegasus?"

"Well... yeah," said Hayato, sounding puzzled by the abrupt shift. "We met an Elf who told us about it all. There are people who think anything he paints comes to life, right?"

She nodded. "It's only half-true, you know. It's an eternal cycle, really. The monsters are born from the dreams of humans, and the humans, in turn, find themselves dreaming of monsters. One leads endlessly to the other. But it is true that Pegasus has a closer tie to this world than most other people do. Mogwen decided to take advantage of that. She may not have the power to defend herself on her own, but she does have one gift: the ability to take on the appearance, if only briefly, of any other Duel Monster she has seen before."

"I see," said Misawa, nodding. "So you are saying that this Mogwen is the copy and you are the original."

"Yes," she agreed. "But first someone had to create the Artist's Inspiration. Mogwen used the link between Duel Monsters and human dreams to cause Pegasus to dream of a being that would be irresistible to him. I know this much because she had to pay a spellcaster to do this for her - he told us about it later, when we questioned him."

"So Pegasus had a dream," said Juudai, in the tones of one working his way through a difficult puzzle, "and he painted a card, and that created you?"

"More or less," she agreed. "I... awoke, and found myself in a forest, and I was frightened. I wandered around lost for a long time, until Mogwen found me and assumed my form, which gave her the same power as me... but she was still fresh, whereas I was hungry and cold and weak. She meant to kill me there, so there would be no one who could identify her as a copy. Luckily for me, she caught up with me on the borders of the Toon lands, and the Toons heard her and came to my rescue. Coward that she is, she fled back to her village, where she began gathering a following of goblins..." She shrugged a little. "Again, this is only my guess, but I believe she meant to lure Pegasus to her in that disguise and persuade him to use his talents to give her power over the rest of the twelve worlds. She would have the beauty that Pegasus saw in me, as well as his love, and she would be the most powerful being in existence."

"So," said O'Brien, still looking suspicious, "she is the mastermind and you're just an innocent pawn."

"Yes," she said. She raised her eyes to meet his gaze squarely. "I understand that you have every reason to distrust me, but time will bear me out: I am telling the truth."

At that moment, Pegasus groaned and stirred slightly. "What happened? How did I get over here?"

"You fainted," said Hayato helpfully.

"Why would I..." He turned his head, and his gaze fell on the Artist's Inspiration. "Oh. Never mind. It all becomes clear."

She gave a choked little laugh. "At least you still have your sense of humor. I would be truly worried about you if you lost that."

"This is the Artist's Inspiration," said Juudai. "She says she's not the same as the one before."

"I'm not sure if I find that reassuring or not," said Pegasus. "The first one was more than enough. I don't think I want another one."

The lady flinched. It was only a fleeting expression that was gone in an instant, but it was there - a recoil, a sudden intake of breath, a tightening around her eyes. She quickly smoothed it over, in the manner of someone who is accustomed not to letting her emotions show, but she didn't quite succeed.

"I understand," she said, with only a faint tremor in her voice. "I won't... try to force you to... to like me. I hope that in time, you will learn to trust me."

Pegasus looked slightly shamed at this.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm being an ungracious guest. You've been nothing but hospitable towards me. It is wrong of me to judge you because of someone else's actions." He bowed his head. "Forgive me."

"I can hold nothing against you," she said softly.

There was an awkward pause. Juudai frowned, thinking, _Something isn't right, here._ He still wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but it didn't take any kind of genius to see that this Artist's Inspiration, whoever she was, was absolutely _miserable_ in a way that couldn't be accounted for simply by impolite guests. That shouldn't have been enough to make her hands shake that way. She shouldn't have been blinking her eyes to clear them of tears.

_Yubel,_ he asked, _what is she, really?_

_She is... like me,_ said Yubel, with a tinge of surprise to her voice. _A monster, but with a human soul..._

Juudai stared in surprise at the woman, but before he could say anything, her fragile resolve finally broke, and she dissolved into tears. She did it gracelessly, in choked-off sobs and hiccups, fighting for control even though it was already lost.

"I can't do this," she said helplessly. "I can't just sit here and - and listen to you being _polite_ to me, as if - as if you didn't... as if I don't mean anything to you..."

She ran out of words, and then she did cry in earnest, hiding her face in her hands. The Masked Sorcerer looked alarmed, and glared at Pegasus as though holding him personally responsible for this disaster. Pegasus seemed to feel the same way.

"Oh," he said. "Oh, I am such an idiot. Here, let me..."

He took a handkerchief from his pocket and began attempting to dry her eyes, and she flung herself against him and wept while he murmured soothingly.

"Wait, wait, what's going on?" asked Hayato. "I don't get it!"

O'Brien's eyes narrowed. "You aren't going to tell me that this..."

"I think she is," said Juudai.

"Start over from the beginning!" Misawa demanded. "I want to know what's going on. I want to know _all_ of what's going on, and I want to know _now_. How is it that _this_...." He gestured towards the Artist's Inspiration, whose sobs were now quieting under Pegasus's care. "...can be the genuine, original Cyndia."

"I don't know," she said. It was the first really coherent thing she'd said since she'd stopped crying.

"How can you not know?" asked O'Brien suspiciously.

"Because I don't know," she insisted. She sad up a bit straighter and brushed the last of her tears from her eyes, and loosened her grip on Pegasus ever-so-slightly. She seemed to be collecting her thoughts. "I only remember... I was sick for a time... it felt like a long time, but I don't think it was. And then, after a while, I began to feel as though I had forgotten how to sleep. I could close my eyes and lie still, but I never seemed to really _rest_. I wanted to live - I wanted so much to get well - but I just kept getting more and more tired, until I just sort of... dropped off."

There was silence in the room. The only movement was Pegasus gently stroking Cyndia's hair. It was hard to tell if she had noticed or not - she was gazing out into middle distance, lost in her memories.

"After that, I woke up in... another place, somewhere very far away, only I couldn't quite get inside properly. I wanted too much to go back, but the way I had come was closed off, so I stayed caught in between. I kept looking for a way to come back..." She turned her gaze to Pegasus. "I wanted to find you again."

"I wanted to find you again, too," he answered.

"I know," she said. "There were places where I could... see, a little. It made me feel awful, because you seemed so close, but I couldn't reach you. Then, a few weeks ago, I found a new path that led back outward. I knew it wasn't the way I had come, but I thought if I could just get _out_, I could find my way back. So I followed it, and when I got to the end, I was here.

"Only not exactly here. I woke up in a forest, and I had no idea where I was. I didn't even know if there were any other people other than me. I wandered around for a long time... It got dark, and I was hungry and frightened... Then Mogwen found me. She copied my form, and then she tried to kill me, so I wouldn't be here to complicate things for her. Our strength should have been equal, but I had been walking so far, and I was already nearly exhausted. I tried to hold her off, but... Luckily, some of the Toons were nearby, and they heard me shouting and came to help. Mogwen wasn't brave enough to take them all on - she went running as soon as she saw them. The Toons took me home with them and cared for me. They reminded me so much of you that I decided that I would stay here with them." She smiled a little. "They are dear little things. Like children, really. Most of them can't think more than a half-hour into the future. I think they've put me in charge here mostly because of that."

"I'm sure you've done a very good job," said Pegasus.

She smiled - an uncertain, trembling, but real smile. "Sometimes it's fun.... but it's not as good as being with you. Pegasus, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner who I was, It's just that..."

"I understand," he assured her. "It wouldn't have done any good if I hadn't figured it out myself. I'm just sorry I didn't realize sooner."

"It's all right, I understand. I'm just glad you're finally here..."

"So am I."

"Ahem," said Misawa, and the two of them jumped.

"Sorry," said Pegasus, looking sheepish.

At that moment, the door opened and the Toon Black Magician Girl walked in.

"M'lady?" she said shyly. "There's a messenger outside the city gates asking for you. He won't deliver his message to anyone else. Should we let him in?"

"Yes," she said. "Make sure he's escorted. Don't let him wander off - bring him straight to me. Do you understand?"

"Yes, m'lady. I'll tell the guards," she said, and scurried off again.

Cyndia turned to her guests.

"Somehow," she said, "I feel that this is not coincidental timing. Would you care to join me?"

Everyone agreed that this was something they probably weren't going to want to miss, so they followed Cyndia out of the room and back to the main floor, where she escorted them into an opulent throne room. She seemed a bit embarrassed by it, as it was decorated by the Toons' standards of taste and beauty, which meant it was spectacularly overdone, but she seated herself in the massive throne at the top of its glittering dias, and indicated that her guests should seat them selves in a number of smaller and substantially more comfortable-looking chairs arranged against the wall. Once everyone was situated, she signaled that she was ready to admit her guest.

The throne room doors swung open, and in marched a goblin. He was a potbellied fellow with an enormous mouth and a great deal of ill-fitting armor that clattered as he walked. There was a wide gap between his breastplate and his belt where his stomach seemed to be trying to push its way through. He stomped and rattled his way up to the foot of the dias.

"Ahem!" he said. "I come bearing a message from our leader, the Lady Mogwen."

"Deliver it, please," said Cyndia.

"It is this: you are hereby accused of harboring a prisoner of Lady Mogwen - namely, the artist known as Pegasus - as well as a number of his followers. They are guilty of instigating unprovoked attacks against Lady Mogwen's troops, destroying her personal property, and abducting her prisoners. You are hereby ordered to hand them over so they can be returned to Lady Mogwen."

"I'm afraid I must decline your request," said Cyndia.

"You are not permitted to decline."

She stiffened her back and raised her chin. Her wings, which had until then been folded demurely behind her, slowly spread open, so that she was surrounded by a halo of shimmering lights. Everyone in the room was suddenly reminded that this was not just a pretty young woman, but a Duel Monster, one who was more than capable of taking care of herself.

"You are in no position to tell me what I am permitted to do," she said. "I am queen of Toon Kingdom, and within these walls, I decide what is permitted."

"You do as long as the walls stand," the goblin sneered, "but if you don't turn over the prisoners by the time the sun reaches its peak tomorrow, our army will march on your city and level those walls and destroy your castle and retrieve our prisoners. These are your choices: give them back without a fight, or Toon Kingdom will crumble."

"There seems to be some misunderstanding," she said. "I have already said that I am not going to let you take them. That was not an invitation to haggle."

"You won't sound so full of yourself when we demolish your city tomorrow," said the goblin. "But have it your way! If you change your mind, you know how to reach us."

"You may see yourself out," she replied.

The goblin gave her one last glare before turning on his heel and tromping out again, clanking all the way. He looked as though he would have liked to slam the door behind him for effect, but it was much too heavy for him, and the quiet _whoomph_ he finally managed was hardly a dramatic exit. Even so, he left a distinct aura of unease in his wake.

"That could have gone better," said Cyndia.

"I think you did very well, considering the circumstances," Pegasus assured her.

"He wasn't going to back down no matter what you did," O'Brien agreed.

"I'm honestly not surprised that she's demanding I turn Pegasus over to her," said Cyndia, "but what did the rest of you do?"

"I sicced Yubel on them," said Juudai. "She didn't tell me what she did, exactly, but apparently it was really something."

Seeing Cyndia's confused expression, Misawa said, "It's probably best if you don't ask."

"Ah. All right, then," she said.

"So what are we going to do?" asked Hayato. "Should we leave?"

"Do you think they'd leave the city alone if we went away?" Juudai replied. "They'd just blow the whole thing up anyway."

"He's probably right," Misawa said. "You heard her - Mogwen wants her dead anyway. She doesn't want the competition. If we run away now, she'll just think of some excuse - say she smuggled us out on purpose to spite her - and attack the city anyway."

"I'm not leaving," said Pegasus. "I don't care what any of you do, but I am not just going to walk off and leave Cyndia now that I've finally found her. I will not let her slip away from me again."

"So we stand and fight, then," said Juudai, nodding, as though that was what he'd been expecting all along. "I guess they didn't learn their lesson well enough the first time."

"It might be different this time," Misawa warned. "Last time, we were only trying to get out in a hurry. All that was necessary was to stall for time. This is going to be an organized, full-scale attack."

Cyndia frowned. "The Toons aren't very battle-oriented. I'm not sure how readily they could be mustered for a fight..."

"Nonsense," said Pegasus briskly. "They've always fought marvelously for me. You just have to know how to handle them." He glanced back at Cyndia. "Assuming, of course, I have your permission..."

"I trust your judgement," she assured him.

"Very well, then," said Pegasus. "We've got until tomorrow to plan, so I suggest we make the most of it." He smiled, a wicked glint coming into his eye. "Whatever this Mogwen's other talents may be, she is obviously sorely lacking in her knowledge of television."

"How do you figure?" Hayato asked.

"Because," said Pegasus, "she obviously has yet to grasp that cartoons are violent."

* * *

By the time one of the servants arrived bearing a tray full of sandwiches and juice, the group was still planning. They had moved out of the throne room and into a nearby library (Pegasus had been thrilled to see that it was filled mainly with comics and coloring books). They sat gathered around a heavy table with sheets of paper scattered in front of them, the output of several hours' worth of brainstorming. It had been a productive meeting. O'Brien displayed his natural instinct for combat, while Misawa availed them of his extensive knowledge of practically everything. Juudai's expertise was somewhat limited, but he had learned a good deal about the monster worlds and their inhabitants during his travels, and there were few people who knew their way around a monster battle better than him. As for Pegasus, he had a number of wildly creative notions for how to handle the situation, some of which actually sounded like they might work. In the event that he got a bit _too_ extravagant, it was usually Hayato's common sense that talked him out of it. Cyndia chimed in with her own knowledge of both the ways of the Toons and what she knew of Mogwen's behaviors.

By the time they finally put down their pens and went to dinner, they were tired and hoarse but pleased with their work. They arrived at the dining hall to discover that the denizens of the castle had also been busy while the war plans were being made, and a fine dinner had been spread for them. They settled in to eat with enthusiasm. There was little conversation over the meal. After the intense planning session, none of them showed much inclination to talk, so they kept their attention fixed mainly on their meals. Their sandwiches had long ago been forgotten; most of the group had been so deep in thought that they'd barely noticed what they were eating.

"Whew," said Juudai at last, pushing his plate away. "That was good, but I'm at my limit."

"Same here," Hayato agreed. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm wiped out. It's been a long day."

"We did get something of an early start," Misawa allowed, "and we have another big day ahead of us... I think the best thing would be to turn in early tonight."

"Agreed," said O'Brien. "We'll have a lot of work to do in the morning."

"I'll have someone show you to your rooms," said Cyndia.

She beckoned to a few of the Toons who had been taking up the dirty dishes, and spoke to them quietly for a moment. The Toons willingly set aside their work to seize on their guests and begin hauling them off to their rooms. Pegasus and Cyndia suddenly found themselves alone.

"Isn't anyone going to show me where my room is?" he asked, although he was fairly certain he knew the answer.

"I thought I might show you the way myself," said Cyndia, with a slight blush. "I mean, we haven't had a chance to talk - _really_ talk, not just plan."

"I'd like that," he said.

She smiled shyly. Then her mood suddenly shifted, and she darted towards him and clasped her hands around one of his, tugging him eagerly forward.

"Come on, this way!" she said. "I want to show you something."

Pegasus followed, feeling his spirits lifting. That was how he remembered her - all joyful enthusiasm and sudden impulses. She led him up a long, curving staircase, until they emerged at the top of a tower and stepped out onto the castle parapets. The night was clear, and the stars could be seen clearly. In spite of everything else going on around him, Pegasus couldn't help but take a moment to admire them. They seemed larger and brighter than the stars on Earth, and they shone in soft pastel colors.

"It's just like what I imagined the stars of another world would be," Pegasus murmured. He turned back to Cyndia. "Was this was you wanted to show me?"

"Part of it," she said, her smile mischievous. "But we have to get up a bit higher, first."

"How are we going to do that?" asked Pegasus. "We appear to have run out of stairs."

"We don't need them," she said.

She slipped her arms around him, holding him in a close embrace. Then, in a flash of white, her wings unfolded, and he felt a sudden weightless sensation. He had just enough time to feel a jolt of panic as he looked down and realized the ground had dropped away beneath his feet. Then she touched down on the roof of the castle's tallest tower, setting him down gently before alighting next to him. She folded her wings and daintily gathered her skirts to seat herself on the shingled roof.

"Thank you for giving me wings, by the way," she said, smiling at his surprised expression. "They're ever so useful."

"So I see," he said, as he sat down next to her. "I... hope this hasn't been too much of an adjustment for you."

"It's been something," Cyndia admitted. "I really was frightened at first, but I've gotten used to it here. I _like_ it here."

"You're sure?" asked Pegasus. "You can tell me if you don't. I never realized I was changing things so much when I made that card..."

"No, I really do like it here," said Cyndia. "At home... I was always happy at home - don't think I wasn't - but I never really got to _do_ anything. I never had any responsibilities. People never really expected me to do anything other than stand around and be decorative."

"I did."

She smiled fondly. "I know you did. But most people didn't. I'm actually doing something useful, here. These Toons need me."

"They aren't the only ones."

"Oh, Pegasus..." She laughed, the bright, childlike sound that he hadn't heard for so long, and it suddenly struck him full force that this was _real_. The other Artist's Inspiration hadn't laughed, or cried either.

"Cyndia," he said, "I have missed hearing you laugh. I thought I'd never hear that sound again."

"I've missed having you around to make me laugh," she replied. "But it's all right now, isn't it? This isn't the way I hoped we'd find each other, but that doesn't matter as long as we're here now."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "Things aren't the same as they were before. Neither am I."

"I know. Neither am I, if it comes to that," said Cyndia. She fluttered her wings as illustration.

Pegasus smiled. "You've done beautifully. I'm proud of you for how well you've handled things here. I only wish you could be as proud of me... I haven't always done as well as I might have."

"I know," she said gently. She placed her hand over his. "Believe me, I know. I could... watch, a little, where I was before. Enough to see the general shape of things... and the Toons have been keeping watch over you, too."

Pegasus's face fell. "So you know..."

"I know," she said seriously, "that you were given a very difficult task, and you did the best you could with it."

"I wouldn't call that doing my best," he said.

"You did what was required of you," Cyndia replied. "The monster world and the human world and meant to be connected - they rely on each other. When the Pharaoh sealed himself away, he also inadvertently set in motion the events that would seal the worlds off from each other." She smiled slightly at Pegasus's expression of surprise. "What? I did learn a few things while I was away. They wanted to make sure I understood why I had to leave."

"Forgive me for underestimating you," Pegasus replied. "Please, continue."

"Well... without a connection to the human world, the monster world fell into stasis. It wasn't so much that nothing ever happened, but nothing ever really changed. The same sorts of people did the same sorts of things over and over again, one generation after another, with no progress or evolution. Something had to bridge the gap between their world and our world to start the exchange of ideas again. Someone had to get people thinking about them again. It had to be someone with some artistic skill, to show people what the monsters were like. It had to be someone creative enough to bring in new ideas, and someone passionate enough that those ideas could become reality in this world. It had to be someone intelligent and well-connected enough to spread the idea throughout the world. It had to be someone like you. But you never would have done it if you had been happy and content. They had to push you to it."

Pegasus frowned a little. "Are you sure it was worth it?"

"I don't think it ever feels worth it, to lose someone like that," she said. "Even when I knew what was at stake, I still kept trying to find a way back.. I suppose that makes me no better than you."

"I don't hold it against you," Pegasus assured her.

"I don't hold anything against you, either," said Cyndia. She leaned her head on his shoulder. "This isn't how I imagined us finding each other again, but I think it works out well this way."

"This is perfect," said Pegasus. "I wouldn't change a thing."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "I'm not even really human anymore..."

"That doesn't matter," Pegasus assured her. He flashed a grin. "I find I've developed a taste for the extraordinary. _Not_ that you were never extraordinary to begin with."

She laughed. "I'm relieved to hear it."

Pegasus sighed contentedly and let his gaze wander over the landscape. The castle was perched on top of a hill, and this tower they were sitting on was the highest point for miles around. He could see the whole city laid out beneath him, and the forest beyond that. Far in the distance, he could barely make out a range of mountains, visible only as deeper shadows against the dark blue of the night sky. If he leaned back a bit, the starry sky filled his entire field of vision. He had been to a lot of beautiful places in his time, but if he'd been asked his opinion, he would have said that this was the best of all of them.

"So... what comes next?" he asked.

"I really don't know," Cyndia admitted. "I trust you'll figure something out. You were always very good at figuring your way out of impossible situations."

"Like the time we got your mother's Pomeranian stuck up that tree?"

"I'm _still_ not sure how you talked your way out of that one."

"It took a bit of convincing," Pegasus admitted. "And as I recall, little Jack-Jack never did let me get within five feet of him again."

"It _did_ liven things up, though," said Cyndia.

"That was the point," said Pegasus. He sighed. "It's been a long time since I thought about that. It's been a long time since I could think about it without it hurting.... It's going to take some getting used to, to start thinking about the future again."

"Maybe we had better think about tomorrow first, and sort the rest out later?" Cyndia suggested.

Pegasus laughed. "You are, as always, my voice of reason. And you're right. Getting through tomorrow is quite enough to worry about."

"I hope everything will turn out all right. I don't want to see anyone get hurt..."

"Don't worry about a thing," he assured her. "I know these people. They are a remarkable group. They can certainly handle a little thing like a goblin invasion."

"I'll trust you, then," she said. She leaned against his side. "No matter how much trouble it brings, I'm glad you're here."

"So am I," he agreed.

"We should probably go back inside... There's a lot to be done tomorrow."

"That's true."

"Everyone else is probably asleep by now."

"Most likely."

"I don't want to go in yet, do you?"

"Not a bit," said Pegasus.

"Mm. That's what I thought," Cyndia replied.

Pegasus sighed contentedly. Maybe it was true that they should have been concentrating on tomorrow, but he found he didn't feel like it. He was more than happy to pretend nothing existed but the moment.

**To Be Continued...**


	4. What They Wanted Most

**What They Wanted Most**

**By: SilvorMoon**

Morning arrived with the sound of drums. Juudai stood staring out an arrow slit in one of the towers, sizing up the situation.

"You know, it looks like there are a lot more of them than there were before," he said. "There's _zillions_ of them out there."

"Preposterous," said Misawa, pushing him aside. "There is no such number."

"You don't have to be so literal," Juudai grumbled.

Misawa ignored him, staring out at the ranks of goblins. "Anyway, there aren't that many of them, comparatively speaking. I'd say no more than two hundred."

"More of them than us, anyway," said Hayato.

O'Brien marched up the stairs to join them.

"What are you three doing up here?" he asked. "Everyone is waiting for you at the gate. You're going to have to hurry."

"But it's not time yet!" Juudai protested.

"It's close enough," said O'Brien. "Besides, we will need to be in position when the fighting starts. Move."

There really wasn't any arguing with O'Brien when he made up his mind. The group hustled down the stairs and out into the streets. Toon Kingdom looked very different than it had when they had first arrived. The formerly bustling city was now ominously quiet - every living thing in the city walls had gathered near the gates to await the battle. They were unusually solemn, reflecting the seriousness of the situation. At the center of the crowd stood Cyndia and Pegasus, keeping watch over everything, getting everyone sorted out into their own groups. As Juudai and the others arrived, Pegasus turned his attention away from shepherding Toons about to speak to them.

"Good, you're here," he said. "We were wondering if we were going to have to start without you."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Juudai assured him.

"Is anything happening yet?" asked O'Brien, all business as always.

"Nothing yet," Pegasus said. "For now, they're just watching. To tell the truth, I wish they'd hurry it along. All this waiting makes my skin crawl."

As if on cue, a disturbance arose near the gates, and the Toon Masked Sorcerer rushed over to his side.

"There's a goblin standing outside," he said breathlessly. "Just one. He's carrying a white flag, and says he's here to deliver a message. Should we let him through?"

Pegasus cast a look to Cyndia, who nodded slightly. At her approval, Pegasus turned back to the Masked Sorcerer.

"Make sure all the other goblins are standing well back," he said, "and open the door just wide enough for him to get inside, then close it again."

"Yes, sir," said the Sorcerer, and hurried to give the order to the guards at the gate.

A few moments later, a grinding sound announced the opening of the gates, and a goblin clambered through the opening. Juudai recognized him as being the same potbellied goblin who had delivered the message the previous day. Now he was proudly carrying a white handkerchief tied to a stick, brandishing it like a royal wand, swatting aside any unfortunate bystanders who got too close. He swaggered up to stand before Cyndia and deliver a mocking salute.

"So," he said, "you've had all night to think over our offer. Have you come to your senses?"

"My senses are as clear as they have ever been," she replied. "You are taking nothing from this city. Do you understand that?"

"You'd better think again," said the guard. "We're going to tear this city apart until there aren't two stones standing on top of each-"

There was a quiet _shup!_ sound, as a card shot from O'Brien's disk-gun. It struck the ground at the goblin's feet, neatly severing the end of his toenail.

"Keep talking," said O'Brien, "and the next one goes between your eyes."

"Grrr... Why, I oughta...!"

"Guards, please escort this goblin out of the city," said Cyndia.

A pair of Toon Cannon Soldiers flanked the goblin, seizing his arms and all but dragging him to the gate. The guards at the door, which consisted of a Toon Goblin Attack force, held their noses high as the messenger was hustled outside, making it clear that they wanted no part of their distant kinsman's kind.

"You're gonna be sorry for this!" the goblin shouted, his voice muffled by the door.

"Somehow," said Cyndia, "I do not think so."

"That's going to make them angry," Misawa observed.

"Time to get into position, then," said Pegasus. "Good luck, everyone."

The group scattered. The assembled Toons dispersed, each to their own proper place. Within moments, the entry to the city appeared deserted. But it wasn't. Not quite. Misawa stood on the catwalk above the gate, watching the army shift around, getting its troops and battalions into position. He could easily make out the bright spot that was Mogwen, calling encouragement to her soldiers. She was plainly not one to go about on foot. Instead, she rode on an armored horse with long, slender legs and a gleaming mane, as well as a pair of flashing wings.

_Phantom Beast Thunder-Pegasus,_ Misawa thought. _Somehow, I get the feeling she's making a point. How crass._

He turned his attention away from her, and looked instead toward the center of the crowd, where a number of goblins were hauling a battering ram toward the gate. It was a fairly crude thing, consisting mainly of a large tree trunk suspended from a rickety wheeled frame by a few ropes. He had no doubt, however, that it would be effective if it happened to be used against the front gates.

_Well, then, we just won't let them use it._

He leaned over the other side of the parapet and called down to the guards, "Can you get these doors open in a hurry on my signal?"

"We sure can!" the guards agreed. "No problem!"

"All right, then," said Misawa. "Wait for my word."

He went back to watching the goblins. They had managed to haul the battering ram into place.

"Steady...." Misawa said.

They began pulling the log backwards.

"Steady...."

Muscles straining, the goblins heaved the log as far back as it would go, and stood trembling with the effort, waiting for their signal to let it go.

"Now!" their captain bellowed.

"Now!" Misawa shouted.

The log swung forward. At the same time, the gates flew open with a snap. The log continued to sail forward under its own momentum. The hastily thrown-together rigging wobbled and creaked as the heavy weight strained against it. The ropes snapped and sent the whole ram flying, to land harmlessly in the middle of the road. The gates snapped shut again.

"Well done!" Misawa called to the guards, while the goblins outside gibbered in dismay.

Of course, disposing of the battering ram didn't mean the army was foiled. Spurred on by their leader, the goblins began assaulting the gate with swords and hatchets. They weren't doing a very neat job of it, but the doors were mere wood and wouldn't sand up to that treatment for very long. The portcullis was made of sterner stuff, but plainly it was only a matter of time before someone found a way past it. Meanwhile, less patient goblins swarmed around the castle walls with grappling hooks. O'Brien watched them as they began scrambling up the sides. He turned to the Toon Cannon Soldiers who stood by him.

"Anvils," he ordered.

The soldiers immediately began passing anvils to each other from the large piles they had amassed in the towers on either end of the wall, sending them down the line so that each member of their team had a steady supply. Each time they sighted a climbing goblin, they dropped their burdens on them and watched them go tumbling to the ground. O'Brien watched with approval.

"Why did you have so many anvils lying around, anyway?" he wondered.

The nearest Cannon Soldier laughed. "For dropping on people, of course!"

"I should have known."

The arrival of the rain of anvils slowed the progress of the goblins at the gates, as well. For a while, it appeared that the enemy wasn't even going to make it past the front door. Then someone in the crowd gave a shout, and the goblins battering at the door suddenly retreated. The warriors attempting to scale the walls gave up and fled. O'Brien frowned.

"I don't like this," he said. "Everyone, be on guard. Keep your heads down. Whatever's coming next, it will be something we won't like."

Sure enough, moments later, the crowd parted to make way for several particularly burly goblins who were laboring their way up the hill dragging a catapult. This was plainly a better- constructed piece of work than the battering ram had been, and it was taking all the effort they could manage to keep it rolling up the slope.

"Credit for trying," said O'Brien, "but it's not going to work."

He raised his gun-disk and took careful aim, firing off several rounds toward the burly goblins. It was hard to aim at this distance, especially with such light projectiles, and several of them went wild. A few found their marks, though, and the hauling goblins were startled into letting go of the catapult as they were struck by the flying cards. The catapult, finding itself suddenly subject to gravity once more, began rolling back down the hill, bowling over more goblin soldiers as it rolled.

"That takes care of that," said O'Brien, satisfied.

But he was wrong. Within seconds, more soldiers swarmed around to block the catapult's path and begin pushing it back into place. By the time O'Brien realized what had happened, someone had already pulled the release switch. With a mighty crash, a boulder struck the front gates, reducing them to splinters and twisted bits of metal. O'Brien swore.

"It's all right," Misawa reassured him, from further down the wall. "We still have backup."

"They wouldn't have gotten past us if I hadn't turned my back," O'Brien grumbled. He scowled at the first few goblins as they raced through the front gates. He fired his gun several times and watched them squawk and stumble as the projectiles struck them.

"There," he said. "Now I feel better."

The anvil crew quickly shifted their attention toward the gates, doing what they could to squash the invaders, but there were too many of them to block. Goblins poured into the city and dispersed throughout the streets, spurred on by their leader.

"Find them!" she ordered. "Don't let them escape! Bring the artist to me, destroy his friends, and crush anyone else who gets in your way!"

"Charming lady," Misawa commented, as he and O'Brien headed for the stairs to the ground, so they could be where the action was. "I can see why Pegasus decided he liked the other copy better."

They reached ground level and found themselves faced with an oncoming tide of goblins. Each of them reached for a card and placed it on their Duel Disks. The goblins found their path being blocked by a Water Dragon and a Volcanic Dragon, neither of which looked pleased to see them.

"Wha-what is that?" one of them blurted.

"Hell and high water," Misawa suggested.

The goblins did not seem to find this comforting. Some of them broke ranks and ran, but others held their ground. They rushed the dragons with weapons held high. The dragons responded with dual blasts of water and flame, and the goblins shrieked as they were caught up in a wave of steam and boiling water.

But some of them made it through. A small cluster of goblin soldiers, sniggering with glee at having infiltrated the city unscathed, began scouring the city in search of the man their lady wanted. It didn't take them long to realize that something odd was going on. The streets were deserted, without so much as a blockade to keep them from progressing. They looked around warily.

"Hey, fellas! Up here!" a voice shouted.

The goblins darted around a corner and found themselves at the bottom of a steep and narrow path that cut between two buildings. At the top of the hill, Hayato stood, waving his hands and making faces at them.

"Right this way, guys!" he shouted. "I'm right here in the open!"

"Come on, let's get him!" one goblin shouted.

"What, are you nuts? It's got to be a trap," one of his companions replied.

"How could it be a trap, doofus? It's an empty alley! What is he going to trap us with?"

"Are you guys coming up here or what?" Hayato called to them. "I'm not going to stand around here all day! If you aren't going to come up here and fight, I'm just going to go somewhere else."

True to his word, he turned and began walking away. That was the last straw for the goblins, and they rushed up the hill after him. Halfway up, a number of Toons appeared at the windows of the buildings on either side and began raining banana peels down on them. Hayato watched as the goblins skidded and smacked into the pavement before going sliding back down the hill to land in a heap at the bottom. They sat up woozily, rubbing their heads.

"Should we try again?" one of them suggested.

"And fall on our faces again?"

"It's just a bunch of bananas! We can get by them..."

Hayato watched them bicker for a moment. Then he drew a card and summoned his Des Koala.

"Go get 'em!" he said.

The Koala obediently set off at a lope. When he reached the beginning of the bananas, he flung himself onto them and shot down the hill in a belly-flop. The goblins were still arguing when they found themselves suddenly being bowled over by a speeding marsupial. The Des Koala looked around itself as though it couldn't quite figure out where the goblins had gone, then picked itself up and marched up the hill, its long claws giving it easy purchase, banana peels or no banana peels. The goblins simply lay where they had fallen, or more accurately, where the Koala had fallen on them, looking rather squashed.

"Good job, Des Koala," said Hayato, rubbing his friend behind the ears.

"Murr?"

"No, I think there's still some left over. Don't worry, I'll get you a banana when we're done."

In another part of the city, Juudai stood leaning against a lamp post, watching for any signs of trouble. Actually, he appeared to be watching the clouds, or possibly daydreaming. He wasn't even watching the road. He was just staring off into space, humming to himself. Even when a crowd of goblins came clattering up to him, he didn't even look at them.

"Hey, boy!" one of them shouted. "Wake up! We've got you surrounded!"

"Hm?" said Juudai. He looked up and blinked at them. "When did you guys get here?"

"Don't play dumb, kid!" the goblin snapped. "Just come along quietly, and we'll deliver you to the Lady so she can dispose of you herself. If you don't put up a fight, you might live another fifteen minutes!"

"Hey, wait," said Juudai. "You guys aren't _threatening_ me, are you? Because that would be bad."

The goblin prodded his side with the tip of a sword. "You don't seem to get it. If you don't come with us, we're going to chop you into little pieces right here and now. Is that not getting through to you?"

"Nope," said Juudai. "You aren't going to be able to do anything to me."

"And why not?" the goblin demanded.

Yubel flickered into view. "Because if you try, I'll stop you." She smiled at the goblins' thunderstruck expressions. "Hello again, boys. Remember me?"

The goblins yelped and began backing away.

"I thought so," said Yubel. "How do you like this for a deal: I'm going to chop you into little pieces here and now. If you start running now, though, you might live another fifteen minutes. How does that sound?"

The goblins shrieked and began scrambling away, tripping over each other and jostling to be in front. Yubel glanced at Juudai.

"Nah," he said. "Just let 'em run."

"As you wish," said Yubel. She sounded a bit disappointed, but there was no bringing her to disobey Juudai. She faded back out of sight. Juudai went back to leaning against his lamp post and watching the clouds drift lazily by. After all, more soldiers might come by, and he wanted to be ready for them.

* * *

There was a bright spot above the city. If Pegasus shaded his eye, he could look up and see Cyndia keeping watch over the action from her vantage point in the sky. Pegasus himself was confined to the earth, but as much as he was sure he would have enjoyed the aerial view, he was more than content to leave things the way they were. All the fighting was going to be down here, so this was the last place he wanted her to be.

Even as he was watching, she halted in midair and began to drop, and Pegasus shooed the assembled Toons out of the way so she would have room to make her landing. She alighted daintily on the cobblestone street and folded her wings around her.

"They've breached the gate," she said. "They'll be here any minute."

"Any sign of Mogwen?" Pegasus asked her.

"Not yet," Cyndia replied. "I saw her earlier, but she's dropped out of sight." She frowned. "I have this nasty feeling she's up to something."

Pegasus waved a hand. "I was _born_ up to something. She's a rank amateur next to me."

Cyndia smiled, as he'd hoped she would. Just the fact that he'd already been fooled once was enough to prove that Mogwen was capable of getting up to things on a grand scale, too, and it wouldn't do to forget that. So Pegasus was remembering it, but that didn't mean he was going to let Cyndia worry more than necessary.

"All the same, I'm going to be watching you," she told him. "You get into entirely too much trouble when I'm not watching."

"I agree wholeheartedly," he said. He reached for her hand - but he didn't quite reach it before a sound made him turn away. Cyndia, too, looked toward the city gates.

"They're here," she said tersely.

"You get out of the way," Pegasus told her. "I'll handle this."

"But..."

"No buts," he told her. He gave her a crooked smile. "You could at least _pretend_ to let me be heroic."

"Very well," she said, returning the smile, "but try not to get hurt."

She spread her wings and took to the skies again, and Pegasus allowed himself to watch her for a moment before turning to his assembled armies of Toons.

"All right, my friends," he told them. "Time for you to make me proud."

The Toons answered his words with a determined murmur. Pegasus reflected that what he was seeing was vastly peculiar - serried ranks of cute cuddly creatures, all of them armed to the teeth and preparing for battle.

Of course, what a cartoon considered "armed to the teeth" was very different from what most people thought.

With a great pounding of boots, the goblins came marching up the hill. "Limping" might have been a better term - most of them looked scalded or bruised or clawed from encounters with the front lines - but they continued forward anyway, looking entirely too pleased at having gotten this far. The forerunners looked up at Pegasus and grinned. He grinned back at them.

"Hello there, boys!" he called cheerfully. "Hungry? We were just sitting down for a quick snack."

"Snack?" one of the goblins repeated.

"Oh, yes," said Pegasus cheerfully. "Your first meal of the day is the most important. We wouldn't dream of having a war on an empty stomach. Won't you sit down and join us? We're having pie."

The goblins blinked at each other. Their imaginations were limited things; they were not certain what to do with enemies that offered sweets. They were not sure whether or not this outweighed their orders to kill and lay waste to things.

"We can have pie?" one asked.

"Of course!" said Pegasus. "All you really have to do is ask."

"Okay, then, give us pie!" the goblin demanded.

"Well, Toons, you heard the nice goblin," said Pegasus. "Give it to them!"

Then he ducked, diving to the side and planting himself facedown on the cobblestones while a volley of banana cream pies sailed over him. The goblins watched him, their expressions mystified for the split-second before they were covered in whipped cream. Pegasus laughed as he rolled clear and scampered out of the way. The goblins did not get out of the way - they bumped into each other as they skidded on the pie-covered ground and tried without much success to wipe the sticky goo out of their eyes.

"All right, Toons, get them!" Pegasus ordered.

The Toons eagerly obeyed, charging forward in a disorganized rush. The goblins made an effort to recover themselves and repel the attack, but they were already off-balance while the Toons were in their element. It wasn't long before the goblin soldiers were hemmed in, and soon there was a fine rout in progress. Pegasus leaned casually against a convenient wall and watched the show. His army easily outnumbered the goblins, and already the invaders were being subdued and rolled down the hill by the gleeful Toons, leaving slippery trails of pie filling in their wake.

_Not bad at all,_ he decided. _So much for the invincible army..._

But then one particularly determined goblin managed to squirm his way out of the melee, crawling on his hands and knees as he wormed through the crowd of legs in front of him. He finally managed to escape and stagger to his feet. He looked around. His gaze alighted on Pegasus.

_Uh-oh._

The goblin's face split into an insane grin, showing quite a lot of teeth. Its eyes glittered in a way that Pegasus did not like. He realized in a flash that this goblin wasn't just following his mistress's orders - he was honestly and completely out for Pegasus's blood. Pegasus began backing away slowly, keeping his eye open for any sudden movements.

"A little help here?" he shouted, but nobody was listening. The Toons were apparently distracted by another group of goblins that had shown up and were now attempting to climb the slippery hill, much to the defenders' amusement. The combined racket of the cheering Toons and the clattering of falling goblins drowned out everything else.

"I knew they would fail you," the wild-eyed goblin hissed. "You cast your lot with the wrong group, Pegasus. I'll give you one more chance. Join us, or die here."

"Can I take a third option?"

"This is no time for jokes, Pegasus."

"Who says I'm joking? If there's another option, I'll take it!"

"That's enough!" the goblin snarled. "I should have known you'd be useless. So soft- hearted... It's useless! What's the point of love if only a few people get to have it...?"

Pegasus gaped. "Wait - you are... You're Mogwen!"

The only response was a snarl as the goblin lunged at him, a short but wickedly sharp blade flashing in its hand. Pegasus made an uncoordinated move to dodge and somehow managed to scramble out of the way. The sword struck a wall, sending up a shower of blue sparks, and Mogwen snarled.

"You won't get away from me this time," she said. "If you won't help me than I'll make you suffer as much as I did."

She advanced on Pegasus, who continued backing away, weighing his options. There was nowhere to go from here - she was herding him towards the palace walls, where he would have no room to maneuver. He cast about for a route of escape, but he already knew it was too late. Mogwen was too close - there wasn't enough room - he just wasn't fast enough...

But it turned out not to matter, because something fell from the sky like a blast of lightning, and Pegasus looked to see someone standing before him with her wings spread wide, light gleaming around her like a golden wall. The goblin slammed into it with an audible smack and fell dazed onto the ground. Cyndia flashed Pegasus a dazzling smile.

"Well played, love!" said Pegasus approvingly.

"What a good thing," she said, "that you gave me such high defense."

The goblin sat up and shook itself. Through eyes that were still slightly crossed, it still managed to give Cyndia a look that was pure venom.

"I've had just about enough of you!" it snarled. "You're always getting in my way! It's not fair! I'm just as good as you! It's not fair that he loves you and not me!"

The goblin suddenly seemed to explode, feathers bursting from its back, armor and green skin falling away to reveal a beautiful woman, perfectly identical to Cyndia in every way but the expression of pain and anger on her face. She looked, in fact, like she was ready to cry, and for a fleeting instant, Pegasus felt sorry for her.

Then Mogwen threw a blast of light at Cyndia, and any pity he had evaporated.

Cyndia folded her wings and the blast washed harmlessly away, but that was only a temporary measure. The infuriated Mogwen seized on her and began physically dragging her away. Cyndia struggled, but she had never been good at hurting other people, and her efforts to escape were tentative at best, whereas Mogwen had the strength of obsession on her side.

"Get your hands off of her!" Pegasus shouted. "Don't you dare hurt her!"

But Mogwen was beyond listening. She was beyond even behaving like a proper Duel Monster - she was scratching at Cyndia's face and tearing at her hair like any angry teenager in a catfight. Cyndia cried out, her eyes wide with fear, as Mogwen's sharp nails raked her cheek.

"I said _get off!_" Pegasus snapped. He rifled through his deck and drew a card, throwing it onto his Duel Disk without any regard for rules. Who cared about a trivial thing like that at a time like this? This was _his_ game and _his_ Toon Kingdom and he would break the rules if he felt like it.

Fortunately, the cards seemed to be on his side. With Block Attack in play, Mogwen was suddenly shoved backwards by an invisible force, skidding to a halt some ten feet away. Cyndia glanced back at Pegasus.

"Well played, love," she said.

"Oh, you haven't seen anything, yet," said Pegasus.

From his deck, he drew two cards, and laid it almost reverently on the Duel Disk. On the field, nothing happened - but then, the Artist's Inspiration was already in play. Then he played Cestus of Dagla, causing a flurry of golden lights to gather around her, coalescing in her hands as a pair of sharp blades.

"Don't try that again," she warned Mogwen. "I really don't want to hurt you, but if you attack me or him again I will have to fight back. I would advise you not to provoke me."

Mogwen glared at her for a moment, and then, with a snarl of utter frustration, flung herself at Cyndia. Cyndia dodged, but not completely - the edge of one Cestus clipped her shoulder, turning the dive into an uncoordinated tumble. Mogwen hit the ground hard, and her illusion shattered, leaving her in her natural form. She had managed to land against a wall, with her head down and her feet in the air, and her skirt had fallen down to reveal a pair of faded polkadot bloomers. Pegasus politely averted his gaze while she righted herself.

"Seize her," said Cyndia to a few of the Toons, who had been attracted by the sound and lights. She didn't sound angry, only resigned and a bit sad. The Toons obediently grabbed her arms and began hauling her away.

"You can't do this to me!" Mogwen howled. "It's not fair! _You made me this way!_"

"You chose this for yourself," Cyndia told her sternly.

Mogwen gave her a baleful glare. "I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to _him_."

"Don't blame me, either," said Pegasus. "I wanted nothing to do with your schemes."

"It is your fault!" she screeched. "You could have made me differently! You could have made me as beautiful as she is! You could have made me strong! If you had made me better, I wouldn't have had to do this! It's all your fault that nobody will ever love me!"

With that, she broke into tears. She did not do it prettily. She bawled, tears streaming down her face to mix with the fluids of her running nose and drooling mouth. Her green skin took on an unappealing purplish tint. Pegasus watched in horrified fascination as she continued to sob, beating her fists on the ground as she was hauled away by her feet.

"Wait half a moment," he called to the Toons. "Mogwen, calm down. Listen to me."

Amazingly, she calmed. She blinked her piggy eyes at him, sniffling piteously.

"I've heard a lot of talk lately about what I did or didn't do in relation to creating the Duel Monsters," he said. "I still can't say I know for sure where I stand. All I know is that when I painted your image, I painted it exactly the way I wanted it, and I treasured that image as much as I treasured every other monster I've ever made. You are not unloved. And moreover, I can prove it."

Mogwen regarded him skeptically. Ignoring her expression, Pegasus reached into his pocket and took out his cell phone. He tapped a few buttons on it, bringing up a video that had been stored and forgotten there weeks ago, and held it up so that Mogwen could see it. On the screen, a blurry image of two boys dueling could be seen.

"I set a trap card and end my turn!"

"All right, my turn! I summon my favorite monster, the Jealous Goblin!"

Mogwen watched, wide-eyed, as the duel played out.

"They... really like me," she said.

"Every monster I make is important," said Pegasus. "Even you."

Mogwen looked down at the cell phone, then back at Pegasus. The video reached the end and started replaying itself.

"What do you think, Cyndia?" said Pegasus. "What shall we do with her? On the one hand, we can't let her get away with this sort of mischief. On the other hand, there's no real harm done..."

"You're going to forgive me?" she asked hopefully.

"I don't know," said Cyndia. "You really have been an awful lot of trouble... but if it hadn't been for you, Pegasus and I wouldn't be together now."

Pegasus nodded. "That is worth quite a bit of inconvenience."

"But you can't be allowed to get off with no punishment at all," said Cyndia. "So, as Queen of Toon Kingdom, I sentence you to exile. You are hereby banished from the kingdom and its environs. Is that fair?"

Mogwen nodded eagerly, plainly relieved to be getting off so easily.

"And you may keep the phone," said Pegasus magnanimously. After all, he'd had that one for a while - it was time for a new one anyway. "As a reminder not to get into any more trouble."

Mogwen gave him a startled look, and then turned away again, shamefaced.

"I don't deserve it," she mumbled. It seemed to be as close as she was going to come to thanking him or apologizing to him. He let it go.

There was a scrambling of footsteps. The assembled company turned to see Pegasus's human bodyguards, assorted Toons, and one cat with a proudly waving tail. They were escorting a large number of goblins who were tied with chains, rope, or in one or two cases, brightly colored stockings.

"Pegasus," O'Brien greeted, giving him a smart salute. "We rounded up as many prisoners as we could take. The rest have fled. What's the status here?"

"Everything is under control," said Pegasus. "Cyndia has done us the favor of incapacitating our opponent, as you can see."

"You helped too," she reminded him.

"So this is what all the fuss is about," said Misawa, taking a few steps closer to get a better look at her. She was ignoring him, wrapped up as she was in admiring her new phone. "Not that impressive, is she?"

"What do you want us to do with her?" asked O'Brien. He fingered his gun in a manner that suggested that whatever they wanted, it was likely to be swift and permanent.

"You will not harm her," said Cyndia. "Take her to the edge of the kingdom, with any of her followers you've captured, and set them all free. The soldiers have done nothing more than follow orders, and Mogwen... we have already settled matters with her."

O'Brien looked displeased by this, but Juudai smiled.

"I like your style," he said. "I'd be glad to take her to the border."

"No, not you," said Pegasus. "Everyone else can go, but I have something I want to talk to you about. I think you're the best man for the job I have in mind."

"What kind of job?" Juudai asked.

Pegasus shot a meaningful look in Mogwen's direction. O'Brien immediately rounded up her and her guards and began hustling them toward the gates. The others followed along with a few curious backwards looks, leaving only Pegasus, Cyndia, and Juudai behind. Juudai came closer so they could talk in comfort.

"What's on your mind?" he asked.

"A thought on Mogwen's final disposition," said Pegasus. At Cyndia's surprised look, he added, "What? Did you think I was just going to let her walk away and forget about her? No, we need to do something a little special for her..."

* * *

Misawa's carefully planned itinerary had gone out the window. Even though the Toons could have easily guided them back to the main road and put them back where they would have originally ended up without the lengthy detour they'd taken, but it was obvious that no one was going to get Pegasus out of Toon Kingdom by anything short of extreme force. So they stayed. No one really minded that much; Cyndia was a charming hostess, and ensured that every one of her guests, both human and nonhuman, had whatever they desired if it was in her power to supply it. She even went so far as to send a couple of cooperative dragons to find Taniya and escort her to the castle so that she and Misawa could be together for the duration of his visit, a gesture that greatly endeared her to both of them. However, for the most part, her work was carried out through her retainers. Most of the time, she was with Pegasus. They had catching up to do.

It was late one morning, when the sun was already well on its way towards its zenith and the remains of breakfast had already been cleared away. Everyone had gathered out in the castle courtyard, where they could enjoy both the pleasant weather and the attendance of the castle staff. At the moment, Juudai and O'Brien were playing a casual round of cards at a folding table. Hayato was relaxing on the grass, leaning against his sleeping Des Koala's furry back as he sketched on a pad of paper he'd found somewhere. Pharaoh was resting nearby, sprawled out in the sun like a fat fluffy rug. A short distance away, Pegasus presided over a small cluster of Toons, moderating some game that they were playing. Nobody seemed to understand the rules or even what the point of the game was, but that didn't seem to be a problem for him. Cyndia and Taniya occupied two lawn chairs nearby, as they sipped cool drinks and chatted amiably. Despite their vastly different backgrounds, the two of them had taken to each other surprisingly well, and could happily talk for hours about everything from tips on getting by in the world of monsters to how to deal with their occasionally obstreperous men. Only Misawa seemed serious; he had taken some sort of machine out of his pack and was tinkering with it in a manner that suggested he wasn't about to be distracted until he'd gotten what he wanted out of it.

Juudai finished his game and wandered over to see what his friend was doing.

"What are you messing with?" he asked, leaning over Misawa's shoulder.

"Transport module," said Misawa tersely.

Juudai blinked. "Okay, but what _is_ it?"

Misawa brandished the machine, as though showing it to Juudai would make everything self-evident. When Juudai continued to look baffled, he said, "This is the homing device that will allow the workers at the lab to find us and open the gate that will take us all home again. I'm readjusting it so that it will work from here instead of our original pickup site."

Pegasus looked up from his conversation.

"Go home?" he said, his expression dismayed. "It can't be time to go back already..."

"We'd only planned to be gone a few days," O'Brien pointed out. "Your people will be expecting you back soon."

"But...." Pegasus looked around, spreading his hands helplessly. The Toons pressed around him, gazing up at him with pleading expressions. Cyndia had gone slightly pale.

"You're leaving? Already?" she asked.

"I... I don't know...."

"Oh, _really_," said Taniya, rolling her eyes. "Of course he's going back."

Everyone turned to look at her. She glared back at them enough that a few of them actually took a few steps away from her.

"Of course he is," she said again. "He's got to organize things there before he can come and stay here, hasn't he? You can't just walk away from your responsibilities like that."

Misawa began to smile. "Of course. He might even have to spend a week out of every month back there, to make sure his company is running properly. What a good thing we got the gates functioning reliably."

Pegasus began to smile also. "Very true. I knew it would be worth the bother of getting those laws passed..."

"What laws are those?" asked Cyndia.

"The ones that make it legal for a human to marry a Duel Monster," said Pegasus. He turned suddenly shy. "You know. In case you wanted to."

"Silly!" she scolded. "Of course I want to! You knew that already."

"Well, I had to ask," he said, looking immensely pleased.

"Good," said Misawa. "So glad that's settled. The device will be set in about an hour. You may want to think about packing."

"Okay!" said Juudai, bounding towards the door. "I hope I can remember where I put my bag..."

"You're coming with us?" asked Hayato, surprised.

"For a while, yeah," said Juudai. "I've got a little something to take care of back there. I should be there for a few days, at least. Hey, Hayato, can I crash at your place?"

"Why me?"

"Because you're closest!"

While the two of them argued about the details of that arrangement, Pegasus went to kneel by Cyndia's chair. She reached to clasp his hand.

"You will come back soon, won't you?" she asked.

"As soon as I possibly can," he assured her. "You'll barely know I'm gone."

"I'll notice every minute," she told him.

He laughed a little. "Well, so will I, come to think of it. But it still won't be too long. You can count on that."

He looked at her, and then beyond her, to the Toons romping on the lawn and the crooked towers of the ridiculous, fantastic castle they lived in.

"After all," he said, "this truly is my home."

* * *

True to his word, Juudai had returned to his home world, if only for a few days. He'd spent most of that time cluttering up Hayato's apartment, when he wasn't out exploring the city or being shown around Industrial Illusions. He did, however, take a few minutes to drop by Pegasus's office to have a brief talk, and to pick up two cards. They were Pegasus's latest creations, which he'd found time to create even in the hubbub created by his announcement that he was about to relocate. They were slated to be released in the next booster pack, but Pegasus had insisted on giving Juudai a set of them as soon as they were off the presses.

But Juudai couldn't stay away from the world of monsters for very long. He felt at home there, and there was so much to do. At the moment, he was creeping around the perimeters of a small village, mostly populated by imps and other small monsters, but he had been there before and knew how to avoid trouble. He had pulled a cloak around himself to hide his face and hair, and no one was paying much attention to him.

He was paying attention to them, though. In particular, he was paying attention to a squat, lumpy goblin woman who was shuffling along the far side of the street. Her head was bowed, and she seemed to be in a hurry to get wherever she was going. No one greeted her as she passed. Juudai smiled a little.

"Found you, Mogwen."

From his card pouch, he carefully drew the two cards Pegasus had given him, and he ducked into a deep shadow, drawing it around him so that he would be kept well out of sight. He powered on his Duel Disk.

"Time for a quick spell," he said to himself. "I play Goblin Coronation! And with this card in play, I can sacrifice one Jealous Goblin to summon Goblin Paragon!"

In the street, Mogwen stopped walking as though she'd been frozen. She stared at herself as lights gathered around her, twinkling like tiny emerald stars. They clustered so closely around her that soon it was impossible to see her at all, and many of the other monsters stopped what they were doing to stare at her. Mogwen's squat shape seemed to grow taller and thinner as the lights grew brighter, and as they began to disperse, it became obvious that something had changed. There now stood a slim, graceful goblin girl with smooth green skin and flowing emerald hair. A filmy white dress clung to her shapely figure. She blinked a pair of long-lashed aquamarine eyes as she studied her hands, which were now smooth and slender, tipped with long and perfectly painted pink nails.

"What... what just happened?" she asked, and then clapped a hand to her mouth at the sound of her own voice.

She wasn't the only one who was surprised. Several people had already begun to gather around her. Juudai was too far away to make out everything that was being said amidst the general clamor, but it was obvious that there were quite a few people who approved of the change. Mogwen's expression went from one of shock to a brilliant smile as she got acquainted with her new admirers. Juudai smiled too.

"Good luck, Mogwen," he said. "You've got the beauty you wanted, now. You'll have to find the love on your own."

"That's as it should be," said a voice nearby, and Juudai turned to see the faintest image of Yubel standing near him. He smiled at her.

"Of course it is," Juudai agreed. "But I think she'll be okay. I'll check up on her some time."

"But now?"

"Now there's a lot more to do! Come on!"

He flashed a grin at her and began darting away, though the shadows and the night. The last sounds he heard before he was gone entirely was the chatter of many voices, and ringing clearly over them all, the laughter of a goblin girl.

**The End**


End file.
